More Than Just Blood
by Briony8869
Summary: High School AU. Bobby Singer has a reputation for being a pretty good foster dad, and so when word gets out that two troubled brothers need a home for a while he's willing to give them a chance. His adopted son, Castiel, a weird kid with a history of his own, has to adjust. This is a Destiel fanfiction, and I'm going to update Wednesdays and Saturdays.
1. Antinous

Castiel should have realized something was wrong when Bobby took him out for burgers on a Wednesday night without giving a reason. Tibbett Diner burgers were the absolute best and as such were reserved for special occasions, like when he'd won that spelling bee in middle school or that time his social studies essay had earned him 200 dollars. Castiel hoped against hope, as he dug into his 8-dollar burger, that his adoptive father had just been feeling particularly generous that day. Of course, he was mistaken.

"Castiel, I've got some news for you." Bobby said, leaning forward and rubbing the back of his neck. In the yellow light of the diner the circles under his eyes were more pronounced and he looked tired.

From his tone, this wasn't the kind of news you should hear whilst holding a bleu cheese burger. Castiel reluctantly cradled the masterpiece back into its plastic basket.

"Mm hm?" He asked.

"I got a call from Missouri today."

"Oh."

Missouri was an old friend of Castiel's, although he hadn't spoken with her in a while. She'd been the social worker who had suggested that the Singer family take him in to foster care seven years ago. Since then she'd sent a several foster brothers and sisters through Bobby's care, most of them staying for six months or so before going back to their families or being adopted by other parents. A call from Missouri only meant one thing. Some kid needed help.

"Now, you know I wouldn't even run this past you if it wasn't a special situation." Bobby said, shifting in his seat guiltily. After Bobby's last foster child, Raphael, had sort of torn Castiel to shreds in his brief but eventful stay, Bobby had promised his long term foster son that he wouldn't take in anybody new until Castiel had graduated high school. Bobby continued.

"But there's a pair of brothers who apparently have been giving some parents a run for their money, and Missouri thinks I might be a good fit."

"Brothers?" Castiel asked.

"Yeah, two boys, Dean and Sam Winchester. Dean's your age, 16."

Their waitress, a tattooed woman with thick rimmed black glasses appeared from nowhere and asked in an intimidatingly perky voice how they were doing. Bobby glanced at Castiel for a second, not sure exactly how he was doing, but she said "great!" and swept off before any answer was made.

"I guess they really want to stay together." Bobby went on, trying to read Castiel's face. His son was looking at his burger with an expression that could mean anything. "Missouri says she's never seen two siblings more tied to each other. And the past three families they've been with have said that they're violent and hard to keep in check."

"What about their birth family?" Castiel asked. "Was it bad?"

"Missouri said their mom died when the youngest was just 2, and their Dad's been homeless ever since, taking them from motel to motel. Social work only took them away from him a year ago but I guess the oldest boy's still really loyal to his daddy."

"Do you want to take them in?" Castiel asked with his head slightly tilted. His tone was cool and his expression unreadable. Karen had used to call him their little changeling the first few months he had been part of the family, because of his ethereal little tics like that. But Karen was gone now, and Castiel was just family.

"Castiel, I just want to make sure you agree to this before I tell Missouri anything."

"I agree." Castiel nodded with no hesitation. "They can come whenever you're ready."

"You sure?" Bobby asked carefully. "Don't be a martyr here, if you aren't comfortable with this I'll say no."

Castiel just shrugged.

"They need help. We can." With that declaration Castiel picked up his burger again and took another contented bite. Bobby shook his head at the incomprehensibility of teenagers but smiled as he checked the restaurant for their waitress. He needed a refill.

The Winchesters turned up three weeks later, the big black minivan kicking up a cloud of dirt announcing their arrival. Bobby's house, situated as it was amongst a junkyard of old cars, looked kind of run down when you first saw it. Castiel remembered thinking it was haunted or something when Missouri dropped him off seven years ago, looking at the ugly plaid curtains and the wood paneling and the uneven door hinges. But what had first seemed cheap and tacky now felt warm and familiar.

He'd spent the morning before the arrival of the Winchesters pacing in his room, cleaning and reorganizing everything in sight, and generally stressing himself out. New people were not Castiel's forte. When he heard the honk of the horn announcing Missouri's arrival he had wiped sweaty hands on the sides of his jeans and taken a few deep breaths before walking downstairs.

Bobby went out to shake hands with Missouri and greet the boys while Castiel hovered on the steps, examining his new foster brothers from afar. One of them was tall, and lanky with hair that kept falling into his eyes. The other was either extremely short or just comparatively so, Castiel couldn't quite tell from his distance.

The tall boy smiled and shook hands with Bobby, looking very polite and hopeful. His brother had his arms crossed, shoulders hunched, and a skeptical sneer fixed to his face. He looked like a caricature of a snotty teenager.

But Castiel couldn't quit register that because _he was the most beautiful thing he had ever laid eyes on._ Castiel stared openly, a flaw of his that his teachers and Bobby had been trying to cure him of for as long as he could remember, but if anybody deserved a good long look it was this kid. Looking at him, Castiel understood why the emperor Hadrian had made so many statues of his lover Antinous. Now that he had seen that face he never wanted to not see it. He wanted it everywhere, he wanted it on a t-shirt, and he wanted to hang it on a poster above his bed and fall asleep under its gaze.

He didn't move from the porch.

Bobby looked up from the car and tilted his head, clearly inviting Castiel to step closer and meet everybody.

Castiel turned quickly and stepped inside the house, biting his lip as he made his way into the kitchen. He poured himself a glass of lemonade with shaking hands. He'd only taken a few sips when he heard the squeak of the screen door and heavy footsteps of his new housemates.

"Castiel?" Bobby asked, "Where'd you run off to son? You should say hi to Sam and Dean." Castiel turned around with a wide smile that turned slightly manic when he saw how much better looking his new foster brother was at close range.

"Hi!" The taller boy said, looking friendly and giving Castiel a very kind smile. "I'm Sam! Glad to meet you!" He waved and looked over at his brother. The Adonis that must be Dean was glancing around the kitchen like he was trying to find all the nearest escape routes. Sam rolled his eyes. "And that's Dean. He's happy to meet you too." He added apologetically. Dean didn't even acknowledge that anything had been said.

"I'm Castiel." Castiel said, and determined that saying anything more eloquent would probably kill him at that moment. He looked at Bobby for help.

"Um," Bobby rubbed his hands together and glanced between his son and the new arrivals. "Castiel's in your grade Dean, you two are the same age."

Finally Dean made eye contact with Castiel, and Dean's eyes were, to put it poetically, unfuckingbelievably gorgeous. Castiel's face went completely blank as a defense mechanism, like a mouse playing dead in front of a snake that it found sexually attractive. Dean tilted his head back with a little cocky smirk.

"You a smart kid?" He asked.

"What do you mean?" Castiel asked. Sam sighed and rubbed his forehead.

"You know, are you a smart kid? You get good grades?" Dean repeated, in the tone of a guy who would beat you up on the playground to copy your homework.

"Yes." Castiel admitted. "I get good grades."

"Good for you man," Dean said unconvincingly, "Education is important."

"Glad to hear it." Bobby said, but his tone was cautionary. "Let's get y'all unpacked ok? Now that we're all acquainted."

Castiel helped move Sam and Dean's surprisingly sparse belongings into the room they would be sharing. Bobby grabbed a big heavy box, Dean and Sam both grabbed their own suitcases, and Castiel stood by the car, awkwardly holding a desk lamp and feeling vaguely useless. Noticing a leather jacket that had been left in the back seat, he reached for it so he'd at least have something in both hands. He'd only just pulled it out of the car when a strong tug yanked the jacket roughly away from him.

"That's mine." Dean Winchester growled, clutching the leather coat to his chest like a security blanket.

"I… sorry." Castiel sputtered, but Dean had already turned to go back inside, arm muscles visibly perfect as he lifted up his huge suitcase. And so it was done, Dean already hated him and Castiel was already in love. Castiel shut the car door dejectedly, carrying his lonely lamp in shame a few steps behind everybody else.

Once the boys were settled in a little bit Bobby gave them a few hours to relax on their own. Some foster parents were more keen on surveillance, viewing every new teenager as a prisoner for their personal panopticon, but Bobby preferred giving kids their space. Moving was always stressful and he'd taken in enough kids to know that if you push them too hard the first night you just scare the bejeezus out of them. Although, from the looks of it, Castiel was the most skittish of the three. Before letting Castiel go play video games or whatever the hell it was he did on the internet, he had taken him aside.

"You doing all right, buddy?" Bobby asked, keeping his voice low and glancing up the stairs to make sure Dean and Sam were still occupied with unpacking.

Castiel had sighed at the question but nodded the affirmative.

"Look, I'm going to need your help here. These boys seem all right, but I'm going to need you to be on my side for the first few weeks. You know the drill. Can I count on you?"

"Of course Bobby." Castiel said, smiling weakly. "You can count on me."

Bobby smiled and patted his son's shoulder, and Castiel had slipped off on his own.

Sam and Dean hadn't objected to sharing the room across the hallway from Castiel, so he still had his privacy. He sat very still in front of his computer, and an outside observer would have no idea that he felt as though his insides were simultaneously melting and on fire. He flipped open an incognito browser and opened a gmail account that he only used on certain occasions.

"I have news." He began to type, and sighed when he tried to think about how to state his current situation.

Down the hallway, Sam tried to squeeze his long, skinny limbs comfortably on to the bottom bunk of a bunk bed. Their bedclothes were flannel patterned, which made him feel right at home.

"Dean," he muttered, experimenting with a way of bending his knees that kept his feet on the bed but left the rest of him pretzeled. "You have seriously got to chill out."

"What? I'm chill. I'm totally fucking chill." Dean argued, pacing around the room like a caged tiger.

"You're not chill dude. You looked like you were going to punch Bobby out like that whole time."

"Whatever." Dean muttered. "You should just be grateful I _didn't_ punch the friggin' jerk."

"WHY!?" Sam asked, sitting up on the bed and looking up at his older brother pleadingly. "Dean, he's keeping us together. He seems fine. We're in good shape here, just be nice! Please?"

"We'll be in good shape when we're back with dad." Dean growled, and without making eye contact with Sam he climbed up to the top of the bunk bed and lay down with a huff. He could hear his little brother sigh in exasperation and in response he put in his headphones and turned AC/DC up so loud it hurt his ears.

Bobby worked early, so he was never around in the mornings when Castiel got ready for school. Castiel had gotten used to his own little morning ritual of eating cereal with a banana, listening to NPR, and walking the few blocks to the bus stop alone with his thoughts.

That all changed now of course. Opening his door that Monday morning the first thing he saw was a sleepy Dean Winchester walking down the hallway clad only in a towel. His back was the kind of back dreams are made of. Cas closed his door quickly and stared blankly at his wall for a full minute, waiting for his heart rate to go down.

Eventually he stepped out into the hallway and made his way down to the kitchen. Dean was clothed now, thank God, but his hair was wet and doing this spikey thing that Castiel found difficult to remove his eyes from.

"Good morning Castiel!" Sam greeted, far too cheerful than was necessary at 7:30am.

"Yes." Castiel responded, raising the number of words he'd shared with the Winchesters to 5, and poured himself a bowl of cereal.

"So, where's Bobby?" Dean sneered, scratching himself in a way that betrayed almost too much comfort in his current situation. "Isn't he going to hold our hands on our first day of school?"

"Bobby wasn't aware you'd need a hand to hold" Castiel responded curtly. "I'll let him know you would like one."

Sam snickered. Castiel smiled triumphantly to himself as he poured milk in his bowl of Cheerios. He'd made a sentence. And it had even made Sam laugh.

"Ha. Ha." Dean said. "But seriously though, we could just ditch class."

"I'm not going to skip class on my first day Dean." Sam sighed.

"No duh, _you're_ getting on that bus to middle school." Dean assured his brother. "but me and Cas, we could ditch."

Dean looked up at Castiel with a raised eyebrow and a devilishly charming half smile. His hair was still wet and left little droplets of water beaded on his neck. Castiel felt his stomach flutter, but it wasn't nearly enough to overcome years of socialized good behavior.

"I have a project due today." Castiel responded, honestly. "It would be self-destructive to ditch, even more so than usual."

Dean sighed.

"You guys suck. You're raining all over my Ferris Bueller vibe."

Castiel did not know what that meant but he assumed it was something unsavory.

The middle school bus arrived a little earlier than the high school's so Sam headed out to the bus stop on his own. Castiel was ready, he had his project in his backpack, his lunch packed, his shoes on, everything was ready. Except Dean.

Castiel tapped tentatively on the door to the bathroom.

"Dean?" He asked. "We should probably head out now, the bus comes in 5 minutes."

"Dude, I just need two more minutes, my hair gel's all jacked up." Dean grumbled from inside the bathroom.

Castiel stood in the hallway, perfectly still, waiting tensely for the door to open. When it didn't after another minute, he rapped again.

"Dean, we should really walk out to the bus stop, it takes a few minutes to get there."

The door swung open and Dean Winchester's head popped out.

"Cas. Chill the fuck out. I can't go to school like this."

Castiel saw no earthly reason why Dean could not go to school looking the way that he did. Sure, his hair was a little bit unevenly styled, but with a face like his he could have a bowl cut and still be presentable.

"We need to go or we'll miss the bus." He repeated.

"If you'd stop distracting me I'd be ready by now!" Dean griped. "I don't even want to GO to school."

"We have to go to school Dean." Castiel said, checking his watch like it was a nervous tic. They had to make it past the junkyard and down a block into a little suburban cul-de-sac where real suburban families raised their real suburban children.

"Fine." Dean said grouchily, tousling up his hair and making it stick out like crazy. "I'm perfect. Let's roll."

But despite a mad rush to the bus stop and Dean's sub-par hair couture, the two boys scrambled to the curb just in time to see the taillights of the bus disappear down the block.

"Holy… shit…" Dean panted. "Your bus, is like, mad punctual. That's ridiculous."

Castiel stared at the corner where the bus's taillight had just disappeared with fear and desperation in his eyes.

"We'll have to call Bobby." He said, turning around and walking quickly back toward the house. "He'll be irritated and we'll be late."

"Hey." Dean patted Castiel's shoulder and made him slow down. His tone was actually sincere. "Man, it'll be ok. You got the keys to that junker in Bobby's driveway? I can drive us."

"But…" Castiel looked at Dean worriedly. "I can't drive. Do you have your license?"

"Not… technically." Dean said with a little smirk. "But don't worry, dad taught me when I was like, 11. It will be totally cool." When Castiel bit his bottom lip nervously Dean smiled and continued, "You've got to turn that project in right?"

Castiel had to agree, he needed to turn his project in. And Dean was just so convincing, he seemed so calm and together even with his hair all over the place. Castiel found himself following Dean back to Bobby's and pointing out the little hook where Bobby kept the keys to the truck.

He sat in the passenger's seat, rigidly still except for when he glanced at his watch every two seconds.

"Cas, seriously, chill out, we've got plenty of time." Dean said. He was driving smoothly, confidently, no screeching on the brakes or doing any of the aggressive driving that make insurance for 16-year-old boys so high.

"My name is not Cas, it's Castiel. And we turn right at this stoplight." Castiel clarified, tapping his fingers rapidly on the cup holder between their seats.

"Yeah, I'm just going to call you Cas though." Dean said, with ever so slight a hint of teasing in his tone. He stopped carefully at a red light and signaled his turn. Had he been taking a driving test, he would have passed with flying colors.

Nevertheless.

"Fucking shit." He whispered, looking in his rear view mirror responsibly and seeing the tell tale lights of a police car.

"What?!" Castiel asked, spinning in his seat to get a better look.

There was a just the littlest bleep of siren noise, and Dean saw in the rearview the lights flash on.

"Oh my God." Castiel groaned, sinking down in his seat. "Oh my God."

"I didn't do anything wrong!" Dean hissed, "Seriously, I did everything normal!"

"Oh my God." Castiel repeated, as Dean pulled over into a parking lot.

Dean saw that the word "Sheriff" was written on the side of the car that had pulled him over. _Fucking shit. _No matter how he racked his brain he couldn't think of a single traffic law he had violated. The sheriff, an attractive woman with dark hair, stepped out of the car and shuffled up to the truck's driver's side. Dean responsibly rolled his window down and tried to smile winningly.

"Hello ma'am." He said.

"Sir, were you aware that your left brake light is out?" The sheriff asked in a friendly tone, looking in the window at the two sweating teenagers. "Can I see…" Her brow furrowed and she did a double take. "Hey, Castiel? Is that you?"

Castiel had been sinking further and further down in his seat since seeing the cop lights, and looked like a boneless chicken somebody had buckled into a vehicle.

"Hello Jody." Castiel said, flatly.

"You, uh, you know each other?" Dean asked, trying to keep on smiling even though he was sweating bullets.

"Castiel, what the hell are you doing? And who are you?" Sheriff Mills asked Dean, confused. "Does Bobby know about this?"

Sheriff Jody Mills was a personal friend of Bobby's, and had known Castiel since he was 9 years old. She knew that he didn't have his driver's license, and she definitely knew he was supposed to be going to school not cavorting with some punk.

"I.." Dean was about to slide into one of his well-rehearsed lies for situations like this, meeting Sheriff Mills steely expression with a carpetbaggers grin. But Castiel spoke first.

"It was my idea." Castiel said quickly, still staring straight ahead. "This is Dean. He's my new foster brother, I asked him to drive me to school because we're late and I have to present a project."

"New… oh yeah Bobby told me he was getting some new kid." Sheriff Mills said. "That'd be you huh?" She asked the tanned young man with absolutely crazy hair. Kids these days, with their hair gel and murder.

"That's me." Dean said.

"You got a drivers license?" She asked.

"I left it…" Dean began

"No he doesn't." Castiel cut him off with honesty. "I just really need to get to school."

"And Bobby doesn't know?" Jody sighed.

"No."

"Castiel, you realize you just stole a car right? And you're driving it illegally?" She asked, rubbing her temples.

"Um…" Both Dean and Castiel stared up at her with terrified expressions. Jody rolled her eyes. "Get in the back, I'll drop you off."

Dean and Cas reluctantly climbed out of Bobby's old truck and headed toward the much less welcoming police car. As the two of them settled into the hard plastic seat that smelled like bleach Dean leaned over and whispered incredibly softly in Castiel's ear,

"Ferris. Bueller."

Castiel stared back at Dean in a state of complete incomprehension. Dean just sighed and shook his head in disappointment.

The hundreds of students that were milling about the entrance to Walker High School _all _turned to look at the Sheriff's car pulling through the parent drop-off zone. A security guard by the door stepped out, squinting to see what the problem was. Every student's eyes were glued to the car, fingers perched over cell phones ready to start the gossip.

Dean Winchester stepped out of the cop car like he was stepping on to a red carpet. He smiled winningly at all the kids who were staring at him like a freakshow exhibit, and opened the car door for Castiel. As soon as everyone saw that it was just Castiel Milton getting dropped off at school by the sheriff and not anybody interesting they all went back to their business. Only a few halfhearted texts were sent about the greek god new kid who'd made such an entrance.

Castiel staggered forward into the building with Dean at his side, heart still pounding from being the center of so much attention. Their high school hadn't been renovated since the 1960s and wasn't all that big. Gossip traveled fast.

"So do you think that Sheriff chick is going to arrest us for stealing a car?" Dean asked, eyeing the crowded hallways and staring next to Castiel.

"She's going to tell Bobby, and he is going to be very upset." Castiel said. "But no, I don't think there will be legal consequences. She and Bobby are, um, friends."

"Sex friends? Bobby has sex friends with the Sheriff?!" Dean asked, looking shocked but sounding vaguely impressed.

Castiel simply gave Dean an exasperated look, and Dean shut up.

The bell rang and the ocean of students surrounding them all began to rush off in their separate ways.

"Shit! Are we late?" Dean asked.

"That's the five minute bell. Do you know where your locker is?"

"I don't know shit." Dean shrugged. "Don't worry about it Cas, I'll see you later ok? You go get ready." Dean winked, "Good luck on your project."

Castiel watched as Dean swaggered off into the crowd of teenage humanity. It wasn't until he was around a corner that Castiel realized there was no way Dean had any idea where he was going. He had just set off at random to try to find the office, but he'd done it so confidently it looked like he owned the place. Castiel, meanwhile, who'd been at this school for over a year, still looked vaguely lost.

He shook his head to clear it and headed off towards his locker with a sigh. He was still shaky and full of adrenaline from being picked up by Jody, and was 100% certain that his high school career was about to get way more complicated.

After school Dean and Castiel had gotten on the bus like they ought to have done that morning and sat together nervously. Dean seemed reluctant to talk about his first day at a new school but he didn't seem particularly traumatized. Castiel figured he'd probably get a girlfriend by the end of the week and be prom king or something like some Twilight nonsense. When they got dropped off at their stop they walked home like two men being led to the gallows. As they started up the gravel driveway to Bobby's, both of them saw the big black car with the word "Sheriff" written on the side parked conspicuously.

"Oh damn." Dean said.

Castiel just sighed and trudged onwards to meet his fate.

Jody and Bobby were sitting in the kitchen laughing and chatting over some iced tea when Castiel tentatively opened the kitchen door with a drawn out pathetic squeak.

"Castiel?" Bobby asked. "That you?"

"Yes." Castiel replied, he looked outside to see Dean taking his sweet time walking the rest of the way down the driveway. The coward.

"Well, if it isn't the two Mr. Grand Theft Autos." Bobby said when Dean finally made it into the kitchen. Dean looked like he was about to say something but Castiel cut him off.

"It was my idea." Castiel said immediately. "I missed the bus and I didn't want you to be mad at me."

Dean glanced over at Cas and then looked down at the ground, stuffing his hands in his pockets.

"So you broke about 800 laws." Jody said. "Well thought out, kid."

"It was stupid, and it will not happen again." Castiel said, meeting Bobby's gaze head on.

"And I'm a really good driver." Dean piped up. "Really, Sherriff, tell him, the only reason you pulled me over was the brake light." He paused for a moment. "Which is kind of your fault, Bobby." He added under his breath.

Castiel gave Dean a despairing look. The sheriff laughed.

"He's got a point Bobby, you run a junk yard and you haven't got around to changing one lousy brake light?"

"Well I wasn't anticipating anybody using the truck, Jody." Bobby growled.

"We will never miss the bus, or steal any vehicles again. I promise." Castiel said.

"Right. Totally. No more stealing." Dean agreed.

Bobby gave a drawn out, long suffering sigh, but he waved his hand dismissively and the two boys made a hasty retreat upstairs.

"That's it!?" Dean hissed in the hallway between their rooms. "That's the stern frigging reprimand?"

"I'm fairly certain we're both grounded." Castiel said cautiously. "But yes, Bobby doesn't yell unless he's very angry and he's never angry when Jody is around with iced tea."

"Holy shit Cas, we did it!" Dean laughed in relief. There was no way he could have got away with that from his own Dad. The belt would have been off at this point, no question. Dean held up a hand for a high five. Castiel stared at it, shook his head no, and quickly stepped into his room.

Later that night there was a soft tapping on Castiel's door. He got off of his computer and went over to open it. Dean stood there in Yoda pajamas rubbing his forehead and smiling weakly. He hadn't turned on the hall light so he was illuminated only by Castiel's lamp.

"Hey, Cas." He whispered. "I just wanted to thank you for taking the blame today. That was really cool of you."

"Oh." Castiel said. With the lamp behind him his face was too dark for Dean to read. "You're welcome. Please leave me alone now." With that he shut the door abruptly. Dean had to tiptoe back to his room at the end of the hall.

Sam was inside, reading a book. He looked up knowingly, like some kind of 13-year-old great aunt who was about to say "I told you so."

"I cannot believe you got dropped off on your first day in a cop car. We are never going to be normal."

"Oh shut up." Dean muttered.

"And you should stop being a dick to Castiel." Sam pleaded. "Just cause he's a little weird. He's like our only friend right now."

"I'm not!" Dean was actually offended by that, "Dude, I was literally just being really nice to him!"

"Sure." Sam muttered and looked back at his book. "My first day went fine, I didn't get arrested or anything."

"I didn't get arrested either!" Dean muttered, climbing up into his bunk bed. "And.. And Castiel's not weird. I mean, I guess, he's kind of weird. But he's cool though. He's like, weird cool."

"I guess…" Sam said.

"Like, he's sort of intense right? But really nice actually."

"Dean, I'm trying to read."

"Ok fine. But don't call Cas weird."


	2. Justice

**Chapter 2: Justice**

In the next few weeks the Winchesters made it to three weeks of school in a row without any major issues, a first in their history of school going. Every morning, even without Bobby's presence or interference, Dean would get up on time, get ready, and climb sulkily onto the school bus with Castiel. They didn't speak too much, mostly just sat in silence and listened to the crappy talk radio their bus driver favored. Castiel was slowly growing adjusted to Dean's presence. He didn't sweat anymore at their proximity for instance, which he viewed as a positive sign for his mental health.

Since Dean was a late admitted student his locker was over on the other side of the building with the freshmen, and so Castiel didn't see him too much at school. So for the most part very little had changed. Castiel would sit in the library before school, go to classes, speak occasionally, and basically get by with as little social interaction as possible.

Or at least, he tried to.

Meg Masters had randomly started sitting with Castiel at lunch and as such was the closest thing to a friend he really had. She would sit across from him and tell him about her life and about who she hated at the school (which was pretty much everyone) and he would sit there in silence trying to figure out why in the world she was telling him these things. It was a strange system, but it worked.

"So how's your new brother doing? I heard that he was having sex with Bella and had got into a huge fight with Gordon." Meg asked as though she didn't give a shit what the answer was, and her voice was deep and raspy. Castiel wasn't sure if her voice was like that because she smoked or if she just wanted to sound like she did. He had enough social skills not to ask though.

"I have no idea if that is true or untrue." Castiel replied, taking a bite of his peanut butter sandwich.

"You live with him, no clues? Any strange noises from the bedroom down the hall that sounds like a British chick getting her brain fucked out?"

"No." Castiel replied, simply and truthfully.

"Hm." Meg looked Castiel up and down and the corner of her mouth turned up mischievously. "I was thinking of starting a rumor that he was a werewolf. Would you back me up on that?" Meg asked.

"No." Castiel replied again.

"You suck." Meg muttered, pulling out a compact and adding more eyeliner to her already blacked up lower eyelid.

"Hey! Castiel!" Dean Winchester said, unexpectedly appearing and sitting next to Castiel at the lunch table. He was wearing a faded gray t-shirt and jeans and a group of girls at the table next to them stopped listening to their boyfriend's football plays to stare longingly. "Did you grab the wrong sack lunch this morning?" Dean asked, not noticing. "Mine didn't have a fruit roll up."

"Oh. That explains why mine had two." Castiel said.

"Sweet! Can I have mine?"

"I already ate both of them." Castiel said. Dean stared at him with a wounded expression.

"Hello Dean." Meg said. "Can I ask you to confirm your whereabouts for the last full moon?"

"What?" Dean asked, confused.

"Interesting. See you." Meg tapped the side of her nose in Castiel's direction and strutted away from their lunch table.

Dean looked at Castiel in confusion.

"What is happening to me right now?" He asked.

Castiel smiled at him, and it may have been the first time he ever did so because Dean found that he was giving him a completely unintentionally goofy smile right back. He tried to shake it off and go back to being a rebel.

"Was that your girlfriend?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow. "Cause she's cute but uh," He watched Meg's retreat, she was decked out in a big black hoodie with ripped jeans, and her hair had red streaks dyed in it. "she looks like she might be evil."

"She's not my girlfriend." Castiel said. "That's Meg."

"Ok. Well that clears things up."

Castiel continued to eat his sandwich as though that actually had cleared things up. Dean sighed and started to eat his.

"Where do you sit at lunch Dean? Usually?" Castiel asked.

"Oh uh, I mix it up." Dean said, trying to look cool. In actuality he'd sat with that chick Bella for a few days and then they'd made out and then she'd stolen his cell phone and since then he'd been eating alone outside, trusting no one. He'd be out there now excepting the fruit roll-up situation.

"Well, uh, if you want to sit with me and Meg sometimes you are welcome." Castiel spoke quickly and didn't make eye contact.

"Did Bobby make ask?" Dean laughed. "Well, if you promise not to eat my damn desserts anymore, fine."

"Here." Castiel reached into his pocket and handed Dean 50 cents. He looked up at Dean with a meaningful expression. "They sell apple pies at the snack counter."

Dean swallowed.

"You are an angel." He said, grabbing Castiel's shoulder and shaking him meaningfully, as though words could not fully express his gratitude. Castiel flushed and smiled as Dean ran off like a happy ten-year-old to go get his pastry.

Bobby's first progress reports home from his foster kid's schools were mostly positive. Castiel's was a list of teachers writing that he was "a pleasure to teach," which pretty much meant they couldn't actually remember which kid he was but he hadn't caused any trouble. Sam's progress report was full of gushing praise about what a polite, intelligent, remarkable boy he was for coming from such a background. Dean's… well, at least he was actually going to class.

In light of Sam's glowing progress report, when the boy asked to throw a party for his friend Jess's birthday Bobby found he had to agree, even though the prospect of a bunch of 13 year olds in his proximity sounded like one of the deeper levels of hell.

Bobby made Sam clean the whole first floor of the house and Sam and Castiel had to help set up for the outside activities. He'd cleared out grassy patch of backyard between the house and junkyard where kids could play capture the flag or something.

"You ever thrown a party like this before?" Dean asked Castiel as they tried to figure out how to put up an ancient volleyball net that Bobby had lugged up from the basement.

"No." Castiel replied. "Have you?"

"Well, considering that we never had a house… no." Dean muttered, "Hold up, you've got it upside down."

"Oh," Castiel straightened his side out. "Sorry."

"Middle school rager huh? Is everybody going to get buzzed from lemonade and dance with their arms all the way out cause girls are icky?" Dean teased Sam, who was filling up a bucket of water balloons next to a wide array of squirt guns.

"This party is going to be awesome, and you can shut up." Sam replied. He seemed kind of stressed out.

"Heck yeah!" Dean said. "You all can watch PG-13 movies now and talk about which One Direction boy is cutest. I'm totally crashing."

"Dean." Sam looked up from tying a water balloon. "Do not. Please. Do not crash my party."

"Calm down Sammy, I was just joking." Dean managed to get his side of the volleyball net firmly settled and he walked over to his little brother. "Hey." He said, ruffling Sam's hair. "You ok?"

"Yeah." Sam was working on filling up the water guns now. "It's just, you know, I want this to be good party."

"Dude, we've had good parties before! Remember that time Dad booked out the play place at that McDonalds for your birthday?"

"Dean." Sam gave his older brother a pained expression. "Ronald McDonald came out and I cried, so then you punched him because he was scaring me and we got banned from McDonald's for life. Of course I remember."

"Oh man, that was awesome!" Dean started to crack up. "Remember dad? He was all "WE DON'T NEED YOUR STINKING MCNUGGETS YOU FREAKING CLOWNS!""

Sam didn't crack a smile.

"Please don't crash my party." He repeated. Dean looked a little guilty but nodded.

Once they had backyard looking less like a scary abandoned car yard and more like a place a parent might actually leave their child for a few hours, Dean and Castiel were exiled to their rooms upstairs and expressly warned against doing anything embarrassing at Sam's party. Sam paced in the living room, anxiety snacking on Chex mix and adjusting all the furniture for no reason.

Castiel had planned on spending a quiet evening on the internet, but he'd hardly made a dent into his Tumblr dashboard when there was a soft knocking on his door.

"Hey Cas, I'm bored. Want to play video games or something?" Dean asked from outside.

"Um, the console is downstairs." Castiel pointed out. "We can't." He opened the door to see Dean standing awkwardly with his hands in his jean pockets. They could hear the sounds of the first few guests arriving downstairs, muffled conversations and shrieks of laughter.

"Oh." Dean noted.

"I have… cards?" Castiel suggested tentatively.

Twenty minutes later Dean and Castiel were sitting cross legged on Castiel's floor, halfway through a heated round of Egyptian Ratscrew. Castiel had handed Dean's ass to him their first round, the boy's reflexes were frightening, he kept slapping those doubles like it was his fucking job.

"It's very impressive that your brother was able to make so many friends so quickly." Castiel said, not even slowing his pace slightly.

"Yeah, Sam's always been good with people. He'd make friends in line at the movie theater." Dean said, then cursed when Cas put down a Jack and picked up a huge stack of cards.

"You haven't made any friends yet." Castiel said casually.

"The hell, Cas!" Dean exclaimed, feathers ruffled.

"You haven't though." Castiel repeated, laying down another card.

"Rude!" Dean said. "Well it's not my fault all the kids at your school suck. Wait," Dean looked up suspiciously after Castiel slapped a pair of fives and grabbed a large number of cards. "You're totally just distracting me so you'll win this game."

"I'm not responsible for your lack of multitasking ability." Castiel said. Someone else might have missed the little smile that accompanied it, but Dean was learning to pick up on Castiel's tone changes.

"I don't need friends. People fear and respect me." Dean said with a smug smirk. "What? Oh fuck!" Castiel had laid down a queen while Dean was gloating. Dean played two non-face cards and Castiel picked up another stack. This was looking bad.

"Maybe you should show _me _some respect." Castiel muttered, smiling slightly wider this time.

"Ha. Ha." Dean said. For a few minutes they both focused on the game, but Dean broke the silence. "I think Sammy's got a crush on that Jess girl."

"Really?"

"You don't just throw a birthday party for some chick you don't dig. Plus when he talks about her he gets that dumb puppy dog face."

"Have you met her?"

"No. And let me tell you, she better be freaking great, you know? He's a sensitive kid." Dean lay down a few more cards dejectedly. "I don't even know what she looks like."

Castiel lay down an ace, and Dean found to his great chagrin that he had run out of cards again, making Cas the winner of round two. Before he could make any excuses for his failure Cas looked up conspiratorially.

"Maybe… you'd like a soda? We could run downstairs to the party for a second and grab one. Take a quick look around." He gave Dean a meaningful look.

"I am kinda thirsty." Dean said with a smile.

By the time they got downstairs the party was in full swing. Bobby's dusty living room was chock full of pubescent tweens all shrieking at a variety of high pitches. Middle school parties run at a different octave than high school ones as fewer voices have dropped. There were several visible cans of soda sitting on the counter, but as Jess and Sam were nowhere in sight Dean gestured over to the door, and the two high schoolers slipped outside.

"I should have told you there were going to be water balloons." Sam was saying to a very cute blonde girl in a white t-shirt. They were standing by the arsenal of watery projectiles.

"That kind of would've given away the surprise party thing." The girl who had to be Jess smiled. She was tanned and freckled and her smile was wide and contagious. Dean was reminded of how girls hit puberty so much earlier than boys, she looked like a covergirl and Sam looked like a skinny awkward flamingo at her side. "But it's a nice thought." She continued. "You guys have fun."

"I think that's her." Castiel whispered to Dean.

"Yeah? no shit, Cas." Dean rolled his eyes.

"Hey!" A young boy in pastel green Bermuda pants with a little anchor logo on the pocket jogged over to Sam and Jess. Dean and Castiel snuck over quietly to the cooler, trying to stay out of Sam's eyeline. "You in for the water fight?" the newcomer asked.

"Didn't dress for it." Jess said, tugging her white shirt. "Seriously though, it looks awesome. You guys have fun, I'll play volleyball with Carrie."

"I'll join you!" Sam squeaked, and Dean cringed at his eagerness.

"play it cool Sammy…" Dean whispered. "you got this."

"You can't back out of it now Sam!" The Bermuda shorts guy whined. He was also wearing a polo shirt that had to cost at least 80 dollars. Although he was probably about fourteen, he had the hair of a 45-year-old insurance salesman. "This is just like when you turned down golfing on Saturday."

"Yeah…" Sam flushed. "I didn't, I mean, I've never golfed…"

"You'll love it. My dad golfs every weekend, he says the world is really run on golf courses."

Dean made an involuntary gagging noise, which caught his little brother's attention.

"Oh shit," Dean muttered and looked for a place to hide. But unless he wanted to actually dive into the poorly manicured shrubbery he was kind of exposed. He looked back at his kid brother with an apologetic grin pasted on his face.

Sam glared. Dean pointed at the soda in his hands, and then at Castiel as though to shift all blame over to him. Castiel looked annoyed.

"Is that your brother?" Jess asked and Sam's eyes rolled so hard it looked like he was having a medical issue.

"Yeah. He's just leaving." Sam said pointedly.

"We set up the volleyball net." Castiel said to Jess, helpfully.

"Oh! Uh, thanks?" Jess said, laughing.

"Boys!" Bobby shouted from around the corner. Dean and Cas jumped, ready to get bitched at for crashing Sammy's party, but when Bobby came into view he was carrying a skinny girl who looked very ill. "Get her some water."

"What happened?" Dean asked, helping Bobby ease her into a lawn chair. The girl was all knees and elbows, and she went down into the chair like a baby giraffe sitting for the first time. She was too pale, and even though her eyes were open they weren't quite focusing on anything yet.

"She passed out on the front steps. Probably didn't eat breakfast. I'm going to call her mom. Get her some water. And you all git!" Bobby waved at the group of children huddling in around them. "Give her some air!" Bobby hurried off inside, leaving Dean and Castiel in charge. Sam came over and rubbed her arm soothingly.

"You ok Catie?" He asked.

Castiel handed Sam a bottle of water and he gave it to the girl, who was woozily holding her head in her hands.

"Embarrassed." She whispered, taking a sip of water. Sam glanced up at the crowd of kids still surrounding her, who weren't exactly helping so much as staring.

"While all of you are outside," Castiel suggested to them. "Perhaps you might like to start the water balloon fight? There is space over there." He gestured to the lawn a little ways back from where Catie was sitting. A few of the kids started to grab some balloons, and pretty soon the majority of the crowed had given the girl some space.

"Is that better?" Castiel asked her.

"Thank you." She said, with a weak smile. "Sorry I'm an idiot."

"Hey everybody passes out sometimes." Dean said. "Sammy went face first down in line for a roller coaster once and they had to call an ambulance."

"Dean!" Sam protested.

"Sensitive kid." Dean muttered. The girl smiled again.

The sounds of shrieking and yelling from the other side of the yard announced the start of the water balloon fight. Sam looked over, still rubbing Catie's arm but glancing to see if the fight was going well. Everybody seemed to be having a good time, although Dean noted with irritation that Bermuda shorts boy had managed to grab the biggest gun, and he appeared to be targeting the girls that shrieked the loudest.

Castiel seemed distracted, staring somewhat intensely at the kids shooting each other and tapping his hand nervously against his leg. He looked a little pale himself.

"You ok? You gonna pass out too?" Dean asked jokingly, but Castiel just swallowed and looked at Dean nervously.

On the battlefield a big boy grabbed a smaller one and held him still while his friend shot a squirt gun right in his face. Everybody laughed.

"I'm… I'm going to go inside." Castiel said. "Feel better." He told Catie, who made a little embarrassed nod back at him.

Dean was about to follow Castiel and ask him if everything was all right, in fact, he'd made a few steps after him, when a very loud shriek from over by the volleyball net dragged his attention back to the water balloon fight.

"Oh no he didn't." Catie whispered from the lawn chair.

Jess was gasping, completely soaked. Her makeup had run down her face, and her t-shirt had gone completely see through, clinging to a now very visible pink zebra striped bra. Behind her, Bermuda shorts boy was cracking up and holding a huge bucket that had been holding extra ice for the sodas.

"Dean!" Sam shouted, standing up from Catie's side abruptly.

"On it." Dean was already striding purposefully toward Bermuda shorts boy. "Get Jess a towel." He called back to his brother, who ran off to do just that.

"Oh shit." The boy said, throwing the bucket down and backing away with his arms up in resignation. "C'mon man, it was just a joke."

"The lady says she's not in a water fight, she's not in a water fight." Dean growled, walking towards the little twerp menacingly.

"C'mon dude…" The guy said, but at that point Dean had him in a headlock.

"Apologize." Dean demanded, twisting the kid over to where Jess was standing. This dude might have been tough shit in middle school, but Dean was able to push him around like a ragdoll. Jess was still shivering, arms crossed over her chest, but her expression was pretty fucking pissed.

"C'mon!" The boy whined, trying unsuccessfully to free himself from Dean's grip. "Who the fuck are you!?"

"Your conscience, and watch your fucking mouth." Dean said. "Apologize."

"You guys are crazy!" The boy whined.

"Apologize." Castiel said, threateningly. Dean looked up in surprise, he hadn't noticed Castiel walk up but he was pleased to see him standing at Jess's side pointing what appeared to be a garden hose directly at the little punk.

"What the hell!?" The boy continued to whine. At this point a whole bunch of kids had gathered, interested to see how this would play out. Sam ran out from the house and handed Jess a fluffy beach towel, which she accepted gratefully.

"There are a variety of water pressure settings on this nozzle." Castiel said, tilting the green plastic nozzle on the garden hose up at the captive boy. "I have this set for the highest, the one Bobby uses to scare raccoons away from the cars. I'd highly recommend apologizing to Jessica."

"Jesus Christ!" The boy complained. "Jess! Sorry!"

"Say it like you mean it." Jessica said, trying to dry her hair that had started to frizz out.

"ARE YOU KIDDING ME!?" The boy wailed.

"Squirt him." Jess demanded.

Castiel looked at the nozzle and then offered it to Jess. She took it gratefully and started spraying green shorts boy down with relish. The boy started to squeal in a high-pitched whine. Dean got pretty wet too, but he didn't even care. Everybody who had been standing around started to laugh.

"What in the name of heck is going on out here?" Bobby called out from near to the house, and all the tweens scattered, leaving Dean, Cas, Sam, Jess, and rude boy in very clear view. It didn't look good, honestly. Jess stopped hosing the boy down for a minute and looked up at Bobby with an apologetic expression.

"Oh shit…" Dean muttered, but he kept the boy in a headlock. Castiel looked over at his foster father.

"This boy embarrassed Jessica on her birthday." He said, very matter of factly. "We're making him apologize."

Bobby looked over at Jessica, who was wrapped in a towel but was clearly wet. He looked down at Catie, who was sitting the lawn chair and sipping from her water bottle eagerly.

"That true?" He asked the girl.

Catie nodded earnestly. "He dumped water on her so he could see through her shirt." Catie said. "He's a dick."

Bobby looked up with a resigned expression. He crossed his arms.

"Well. Get on with it." He said.

Jessica didn't even flinch, she just started spraying the boy down with the hose again. Bermuda shorts boy tried to get out of the way but Dean held him still with no problem.

"I'm sorry! Jess, I'm sorry!" He shouted.

"Ok fine." Jess said with a sigh. She handed Castiel the hose again.

"I'm very sorry about what he did." Castiel said. "I sincerely hope you enjoy the rest of your party." And with that he began to responsibly wind up the hose.

Dean let go of the kid reluctantly.

"Remember what I said." He warned him, before turning to his brother. "Have a nice party Sammy." Dean nodded, and Sam nodded back, rubbing his temples.

Dean made his way back in the house, but on the way he heard Jess say to Sam,

"Your brother kicks ass."

Which would have been enough to make him grin, but Sammy's deep, soul level irritated sigh made him struggle to hold in a chuckle as he went back to Bobby's kitchen.

Castiel was standing there with a towel.

"You got wet." He said. "I apologize."

"It's all good." Dean laughed. "You were totally kick ass out there Cas, I got chills when you said the whole raccoon thing."

"I dislike bullies." Castiel said with a shrug.

"You realize we just held a little kid down and sprayed a hose in his face right?" Dean noted, as the two of them climbed the stairs up to their respective bedrooms. "Seems kind of bully like."

"It was just." Castiel said. "That doesn't count."

"Ok dude, I'll take your word for it." Dean grinned.


	3. Scary as Hell

**Chapter 3: Scary as Hell**

When Bobby and his wife had first decided to take in a foster child they had no illusions of eventual adoption. Foster parents are expected to provide _safe_ and _temporary_ housing, and neither of those descriptors is more important than the other. Bobby had only agreed because Karen convinced him that taking care of an infant for a few months before returning it to its family would be like a practice run for actually having a child.

Then Castiel showed up, nine years old, weird as hell, and with no prospects of being taken in by his birth family. They'd loved the heck out of him anyway, and for a short period of time they were a surprisingly strong little family unit. But after losing Karen to a sudden, brief, and expensive battle with breast cancer, Bobby and Castiel had clung to one another even tighter. Bobby had flown through the adoption process, and now Castiel was legally his until his 18th birthday.

But the Winchester situation wasn't anything like Castiel's. John Winchester had visitation rights, once a week if he wanted, and all he had to do to prove he was capable of taking them back was earn a source of income and show up to drug tests once a month.

He'd missed every drug test, and of the past 8 visits scheduled made it to two.

John Winchester sat stiffly on Bobby's sofa with the posture of the military man, but his face was scruffy and clothes were wrinkled. Dean didn't seem to mind, sitting eagerly right next to him on the sofa and enthusiastically describing Jess's party. Sam sat on an adjacent couch next to Missouri, playing with the carpet with the toe of his shoe and not making eye contact with anyone.

"And this little dweeb right, first off, he looks like friggin' Bob Barker, I don't know what the hell kind of middle school Sam's going to, but it looks like they're setting everybody up to be mini stockbrokers… he dumps all this water all over Sam's girlfriend." Dean chattered.

"She's not my girlfriend." Sam mumbled, not raising his eyes from the coffee table.

"Yeah cool whatever." Dean rolled his eyes, "He dumps all this water all over The Love of Sam's Life… so we're like, hey! Back off kid! And Castiel, you should meet Cas dad, he's pretty cool…"

"Sounds great Dean." John said absently, cutting Dean off and critically eyeing his younger son.

"I… yeah." Dean faltered, losing track of his story. He shook his head and continued doggedly. "Um, anyway, I run up to the kid right? Because you don't just dump water on some chick unless she says it's ok…"

"Sam," John said, ignoring Dean, "How are you doing? You seem quiet."

Dean finally shut up and sat back into his chair, biting his bottom lip as he waited for his little brother's response. Sam still looked grim, and he continued to run his sneaker along the edge of Bobby's dinged up coffee table.

"I'm fine." He said.

"Bobby said your progress report was good." John said. "I was proud."

Dean beamed at that, smiling over at his brother as though a compliment to Sam was as good as a compliment to him.

"Great." Sam muttered quietly, remaining expressionless.

"Is there something you want to say, Sam? Because you're pretty quiet over there." John asked, and Dean shifted nervously in his seat at the threat in his tone. Missouri frowned and tapped her pen at the edge of her clipboard of paperwork.

Sam looked up with such a shit-starting expression that Dean groaned audibly.

"Missed you last weekend, Dad." Sam said venomously. "It would have been great to see you then. Or the weekend before."

"But it's great to see you now." Dean tried to deflect, grabbing his dad's arm and giving his brother a quick cautionary glare. "I mean, we know how busy you are, and it's gotta be tough with all this paperwork and hassle to come visit."

"Sam, I come whenever I possibly can." John Winchester said, not even moving to acknowledge Dean. "You know that."

"You sure say it a lot." Sam said grimly. He looked up at Missouri, "Can I go?"

"He's only been here twenty minutes Sam," Missouri said, "are you sure..."

"I'm sure. I'm done." Sam muttered, standing up.

"Well if this is what it's going to be like!" John Winchester growled, standing up as well. "You got my jacket, Dean?" He asked, acknowledging his eldest son for the first time in a while.

"I uh, I was keeping it…" Dean sputtered, flushing.

"Just bring me the damn jacket Dean." John muttered, running his hands through his hair and glaring at Sam. Dean hurried to get the jacket out of his closet upstairs. "I don't need to see this kind of disrespect." John said, leaning over to where Sam was stubbornly staring at the floor.

"Sam doesn't mean it, Dad!" Dean apologized, running back down the stairs with the leather jacket in hand.

"I _do_ mean it, Dean." Sam said angrily. "I mean everything I say!"

"Look at you, all grown up at thirteen years old." John sneered.

"Sir, you're going to have to calm down," Missouri warned, standing up with her clipboard and stepping between John and his son.

"I was grown up at 6, thanks to you!" Sam shouted.

Dean sat down on the staircase with a thunk, staring straight ahead miserably. John Winchester turned and nodded at Missouri with exaggerated mock politeness and then swept out the door, slamming the screen behind him as he left.

"Well." Missouri said with a sigh. "I've seen worse."

Sam looked up at his brother, finally. The expression of cold fury he'd given his father was gone, and for the first time since John Winchester had shown up you could see his age. When Sam looked at Dean he was very much thirteen years old, searching his brother's face for forgiveness.

"What the HELL is wrong with you?" Dean growled at his brother, wiping away some tears that had formed in the corners of his eyes without his permission.

"Boys…" Missouri said, soothingly.

Dean turned around and ran upstairs, leaving Sam in the living room with their social worker. He sank back down into the couch.

"There's nothing wrong with me." Sam said, as though reminding himself. "I'm fine."

Later that night Castiel was, as usual, in his room on his computer. A soft knock on his door surprised him and spurred on a quick and frantic closing of a gchat and incognito browser. His clock said it was 2AM.

"Who… hello?" Castiel asked.

"Hey Cas." Dean said from the hallway.

"Oh" Castiel shut his laptop and opened his bedroom door cautiously. Dean was standing outside, still fully dressed. "Hello Dean." Castiel said. "Can you not sleep?"

"I can't be in there with Sam right now." Dean muttered. "Want to sneak out with me?"

Castiel glanced down the hallway to Bobby's room, but of course everything was dark.

He looked back at Dean,

"Are you upset with Sam? He asked.

"Whatever, are you coming or not?" Dean asked sharply.

"I'll come." Castiel said, unable to keep the nerves out his whisper. They were both still grounded from the car thing, and he'd never snuck out without permission before. But Dean was Dean and Castiel didn't like the thought of him sneaking out on his own.

In a few minutes both of them were outside. It had been a hot day, and residual warmth still rose off the pavement even as the coolness of the night tried to combat it. If there hadn't been so many streetlights they would have been able to see the stars.

"Do you have a plan?" Castiel asked as the boys began to lope down the sidewalk away from Bobby's house, about an arms distance between them.

"I'm making it up as I go." Dean said. "So sue me."

Castiel walked on in silence, his hands in his pockets.

"Is there like, a gas station around here?" Dean eventually asked, after they had passed beyond their bus stop and entered uncharted pedestrian territory.

"Yes. Were you planning to burgle one?" Castiel asked with an earnest and nonjudgmental head tilt.

"No! dude." Dean laughed. "I just wanted a slushie."

"Oh." Castiel nodded. "I don't think they have slushies. It's a very small gas station."

"Well how about a slim jim?" Dean asked.

"Possibly. I've never looked."

It was 2AM in the suburbs, and as such the road belonged to the teens. Castiel couldn't help but admire Dean's confident walk as he ambled along the middle of the road, shoulders slightly hunched, freckled face glowing under the intermittent streetlights.

"You thought I was going to burgle a gas station? Really?" Dean asked, sounding vaguely offended.

"I don't know. Don't people usually sneak out after dark to do crimes?"

"I've only ever snuck out after dark to get laid." Dean admitted. "Which was only a crime that one time with Mrs. Hendricks because she was 32 but that was super weird and I'm not doing that again." Dean admitted.

"I've never snuck out before." Castiel said.

"You don't say?" Dean asked sarcastically.

Castiel looked down, embarrassed.

"Do you and Sam sneak out ever?" He asked.

"I just said I only ever sneak out to get laid." Dean repeated. "And I've got to tell you, Sam is the worst cock-block in the history of the world. If you ever have somebody you DON'T want to have sex with just bring Sam along."

"I'll keep that in mind." Castiel said with one of his rare smiles.

"Oh yeah, you've got that Meg chick who wants to get in your pants! I'll let Sam know, he'll save you. You don't want to have sex with her right? Or do you?"

"I… this is making me uncomfortable." Castiel admitted.

"Awww, look at you!" Dean grinned. "You're blushing!" Dean reached out to pinch Castiel's flushing cheek but Cas ducked away.

"You can enjoy that slim jim by yourself…" Castiel muttered.

"No dude! Wait!" Dean laughed, grabbing Castiel's arm so he couldn't retreat. "I'm sorry I won't talk about chicks, I promise."

They continued walking for a few steps arm in arm before Dean dropped it self-consciously. Castiel's cheeks stayed pink.

"How was your visit with your father?" Castiel asked, remembering what Dean had been up to that day.

Dean's face fell. "I don't want to talk about it." He said.

"Oh." Castiel said. "I'm sorry. I know you were looking forward to it."

Dean got very quiet.

"You never talk about your biological family." Dean observed, realizing that he didn't really know much about Castiel's life.

"We're here." Castiel said abruptly. They were standing outside a one-pump gas station, the parking lot lit up by flickering fluorescent lights and dirty windows obscuring the interior of the little store attached.

"Holy shit Cas, no kidding this place doesn't have slushies." Dean said, making a face. "I'm surprised they have electricity."

"They may have slim jims. Although I'd check the expiration date." He cautioned.

"Are they even open?" Dean asked, the lights were on but it was hard to tell if that meant the establishment was open or if they were just the lights that always stayed on. Castiel walked right up to the door without hesitation, and Dean was forced to follow.

"They're open. See?" Castiel opened the door with a depressing creak, and they stepped into the convenience store. The linoleum had at one point been pale blue but was now a sort of brownish green. There was a cigarette machine but it had an "out of order" sign that was so old the edges had stared to curl, and the whole place smelled disconcertingly of gasoline and urine.

An old man from behind the counter looked at the boys questioningly.

"I ain't selling you any booze." He growled.

"Um, that's fine!" Dean said with a smile. "Uh Cas?" He whispered. "I'm getting a 'we're gonna be murdered vibe' from this place. Like hardcore."

Castiel was peering over the racks however, where candy bars and packs of gum sat next to bags of sunflower seeds that had sat out so long they'd gathered dust.

"They have pringles." Castiel offered, helpfully.

Dean sighed. If Castiel was going to play chicken he didn't know who he was up against. So the place looked like a set from a low budget slasher flick, he'd seen worse traveling around with his dad.

"You want a soda or something?" He offered, gesturing over to the coolers in the back.

"If they have an iced tea, I'll take one." Castiel said, still scanning for slim jims or beef jerky.

Dean wandered off to the back of the store, eying the iced tea options. He opened the door to grab one, but jumped with a gasp when he realized there was a man standing next to him.

"You old enough to drink?" The man asked. He was grimy enough to match his surroundings, his long, matted hair looked like it hadn't been washed in a few weeks and his clothes smelled stale. His breath, which Dean could feel the dude was standing so close, smelled like beer and he had the skinny build of an addict. He kept twitching and putting his hands into his baggy pants pockets.

"Um… I'm old enough to drink iced tea." Dean said, using smart-assery as a defense mechanism.

"You…" The guy leaned forward with a strange look in his eye. "old enough?" He asked again, and Dean got the feeling that he wasn't talking about drinking anymore.

"Sir, do you need help?" Castiel asked, emerging from behind a shelf as Dean started to back away.

"Um, Cas?" Dean said, "I think we should go…"

"You think you're SMARTER THAN ME!?" The man shouted, suddenly, slamming the door to the refrigerator. Dean was miles past his comfort zone and he glanced at Cas for reinforcement but Castiel responded coolly,

"No. Do you need any help sir?"

"You fucking little cunts." The man muttered, "You think, you think you're smarter than me. Pretty little boys." He was staring Castiel right in the eye. "Pretty little boys."

Castiel stared him right back, not flinching or showing emotion of any kind. Dean contemplated whether he'd be able to grab Cas's arm and run.

"Hey Ned!" The storeowner called out "Leave those kids alone huh? You pick up your drinks?"

"You think you're big huh, look!" The man who the storeowner called Ned pulled up his over shirt. For a millisecond Dean didn't know what he was about to see, but Ned was clearly pointing to the handle of a knife that he had tucked into his belt loop. Castiel, who had been very calm and collected up until this point, froze.

"We're going to go." Dean said, grabbing Cas's arm and starting to walk quickly toward the door of the store. Finally Castiel seemed to be in agreement and they hustled side by side. He was still carrying some junk food, and Dean grabbed it out of his hands and put it down on the counter quickly. "Have a nice night!" He told the shopkeeper, dragging his friend out on to the street. "You ok man?" he muttered to Castiel, who was walking alongside him, stumbling a little bit.

"I… is he… following?" Castiel managed to ask.

As soon as he said so they both heard the creaking sound of someone exiting the store behind them.

"Shit." Dean muttered. "Keep walking Cas he doesn't know where we went."

"Oh no." Castiel muttered, but he managed to quicken his pace. The two of them walked quick as they could down the sidewalk, Dean glancing behind them every few steps to see if Ned had decided to follow them down the street. He couldn't see anything though, between the street lamps it was too dark.

The walk the few blocks back to Bobby's took a third of the time it took to get there. Once the boys made it to their driveway they both started running and when they scrambled back into the kitchen Dean was laughing in nervous relief.

"Shit Cas! That was crazy!"

"Do you think he followed us?" Castiel wasn't laughing yet; he still looked extremely frightened.

"No man, we're safe." But Dean peered out the window and double locked the door behind them anyway. "You ok? That WAS CRAZY."

Castiel had sunk into a dining room chair. He put his head between his knees and was taking deep breaths.

"I mean, I've dealt with drunk homeless guys before, but SHIT." Dean muttered rubbing his forehead.

"I have to go to bed." Castiel said, his expression was dull, he had the vacant look of panic he'd had after being pulled over by the Sherriff only this time it was much worse. Dean touched his shoulder gently.

"Hey, Cas. It's ok, we're safe now, yeah?" Dean said soothingly. "I almost pissed myself, but we're safe."

Castiel, to Dean's shock, was actually shaking. He didn't respond, he just sat still in the chair, trembling like a dog that had just been accidentally stepped on.

"Should I get Bobby?" Dean asked, but Castiel vehemently shook his head.

"I'll, I'll be fine. I just need a minute." Castiel said. Dean wasn't sure what to do, but Castiel really looked torn up about this so in desperation Dean just leaned down and gave him a tight hug. He could feel Castiel's skinny form shaking for a little bit, but finally it slowed. Eventually there was a little pressure back from the hug.

"You feeling better?" Dean asked pulling back just a bit. "We're safe now."

"I… yes. Thank you Dean." Castiel said. "Please don't tell Bobby about this, I don't want to worry him."

"I won't, I promise." Dean agreed.

Both boys eventually climbed into their beds without anybody knowing what they'd been up to, but neither of them slept that night.


	4. Enter, Charlie

**Chapter 4: Enter Charlie**

Dean Winchester was trying to finish his math homework in the last two minutes before school started when a cute, pale, red head girl dramatically pulled out a chair across from him at his library table.

"Hey. I'm Charlie." The girl said, and her voice was high-pitched and bizarre. She sounded like an angry cartoon rabbit.

Dean looked up at the newcomer.

"Um, Good for you." He said, looking back down at his algebra. He ought to have been in pre-calc at this stage in his high school career but he'd taken one look at the placement test, laughed, died a little inside, and sauntered into freshman level algebra.

"I see you're doing math, not one of your better subjects, I've noticed. I happen to very good at math, exceptionally good, even." Charlie said.

"Who are you?" Dean asked, putting down his pencil pointedly and glaring.

"I just said. I'm Charlie. I'm in your Biology class. I could help you." Charlie suggested. She leaned forward conspiratorially. "I mean, for a favor."

"What?" Dean asked, confused. "Are you bartering with me?"

"All I'm saying is I could explain that worksheet to you if you help me out with the Sadie Hawkins dance." Charlie said quickly and nervously.

"Oh." Dean sighed and picked up his pencil again. "Look, it's nice of you to ask, but I don't really do dances."

Charlie raised a very exasperated eyebrow.

"I'm not asking you, you cocky asshole. I need your help asking Meg Masters."

"Meg?" Dean looked up at his companion in confusion again. "But… she's a girl."

Charlie gave him a moment to think things through. It took a while but the gears finally clicked into place.

"Wait, are you…?" He asked, and Charlie cut him off.

"Yes. It's just, I don't know if Meg is, so I need your help."

"Oh, uh… Well, I don't know her all that great either." Dean said.

"You sit with her at lunch. God knows how you managed it but you sit with her at lunch." Charlie said.

"I guess." Dean admitted. "So, are you going to do my math homework or…"

The bell rang, and both Dean and Charlie cursed.

"Find me at lunch." Charlie whispered, disappearing into the hallway with their fellow class stragglers.

"But… I have math class before then." Dean noted in resignation, but at that point Charlie was gone. He sighed and gathered his stuff together to go to class.

At lunch Castiel and Meg sat across from one another like they usually did. Meg was trying out a new green lipstick. So far responses had been mixed.

"You look like you gave a leprechaun a blow job!" A fashionable girl hissed from another table.

"He didn't enjoy it half as much as your boyfriend did!" Meg shouted back and turned her attention back to Castiel. "What was I saying?"

"That you had been having a very fun day." Castiel prompted.

"Oh yeah it's been fucking awesome." Meg agreed with a perky green smile. "Bitches have been talking shit like it's their job."

"For the record, I think you look unusual but not unattractive." Castiel responded earnestly.

"Not unattractive!" Meg laughed, "Sssh Castiel, you'll make me blush!"

"Oh, um…" Castiel floundered for a moment, but fortunately Dean sat down with them as a distraction.

"Meg! You look…" Dean paused, frightened. Meg raised an eyebrow in invitation. "very nice." Dean finished quickly.

"Nice try, but you're not half the honeyed wordsmith Castiel here is." Meg said. "You look very nice too Dean, you're growing into a lovely young woman."

"Thank you!" Dean replied with a smile. "How's it going Cas, good day at school?"

"It's the same as nearly every other day." Castiel said. "Anything new with you?"

As Castiel asked, Dean noticed the cute redheaded girl who had spoken to him before, gesturing wildly at him from a table visible behind Castiel's head. He remembered that there was, in fact, something new with him.

"Oh you know, same old same old." Dean looked at Meg curiously trying to see what this Charlie chick saw in her. Meg glared back at him, raising an eyebrow and looking hostile. "Um, I just remembered I forgot… something, yeah, I'll just go…" Dean stood up after his incredibly shady excuse and took all his stuff over to where Charlie was sitting.

"Good bye Dean." Castiel said, with a vague hint of regret. Meg eyed Castiel's face and bit her cheek as his eyes followed Dean's retreat closely.

"You're starting to get along with him huh?" Meg asked.

"Oh, um, he's very nice." Castiel admitted, taking a hasty bite of his sandwich.

Over at Charlie's table, Dean leaned over.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you stalking me?"

"No loser, like I said this morning, I'm stalking Meg!" Charlie replied. "Not in a creepy way though. In an innocent, cutely endearing way." She clarified. "Did you talk to her? Her lipstick is so cool I could die. I wish I could pull that off." Charlie glanced over at the table where Meg and Castiel sat with wistful longing.

"You think she pulls it off?" Dean asked dubiously. He shook his head to get back on topic. "And I'm not going to help you! You didn't even help with my math homework!"

"Then why'd you come over here?"

"Because you were flailing like a crazy person and I needed you to stop!"

Charlie looked at Dean thoughtfully, tapping her pen on the edge of her notebook and looking like she ought to be a villain in a bond movie.

"I'll tutor you." She said. "I'm really good at math, and your grades have to get better or else they'll kick you out of school pretty quick."

"Hey, I'm doing ok!" Dean sputtered. He was doing better than he usually did. It used to take a lot of encouraging to get him out of bed (or out of the back of the car as the case may be) and to school, but mornings with Castiel were always pleasant. They'd chat for the bus ride in and then Dean would end up actually in class, blinking and disoriented. That said, apart from attendance, his performance had not been stellar.

"I can help you do good." Charlie said. "And you can help me live out a high school dream and be one half of the first same sex couple to attend our Sadie Hawkins dance!"

"Really?" Dean asked. "You'd be the first ever?"

"Well, technically Ben Hardings and Guy Van Coors went as a joke three years ago, but we'd be the first legit, non douchebag, lesbian couple to go."

"If Meg swings that way."

"Barring, yes, Meg swinging towards dudes." Charlie flinched at her own phrasing, and Dean smiled. "Please Dean?" Charlie asked again. "You have an in, you actually sit with her. And this is my dream! Second only to masterminding a non-violent coup from within Wikileaks and taking my rightful place as its leader."

Dean stared at her blankly for a second and then sighed.

"Ok, I've got an idea how I can help you."

A few seconds later Castiel looked up from his lunch and saw Dean approaching the table again. He was dragging a girl by the arm, who had an expression that would have made sense if Dean was dragging her toward the edge of a tall building with the intent to throw her off.

"Castiel, Meg, this is Charlie. She's cool." Dean announced, and he sat Charlie across from him at the lunch table. She squirmed and in doing so brushed her elbow against Meg's, which made her jump.

"Hello Charlie." Castiel said, eyeing where Dean had been holding her arm with a contained amount of stupid jealousy.

Charlie made a squeaking noise that didn't sound anything like a hello, but Castiel accepted it as such with a nod and continued eating his sandwich.

"I like your T-shirt." Meg said to Charlie, nodding at the Legend of Zelda triforce shirt she was wearing. Charlie smiled giddily.

"Your lipstick is the coolest thing I've ever seen. You look like an evil mermaid." Charlie said. "I mean that in the best possible way oh my god."

Meg raised her eyebrows with a pleased smile at that.

"See?" She said to the boys. "THAT'S how you talk to a lady!"

Charlie and Meg talked about video games for the rest of the lunch period and Dean smiled at Castiel, proud of his matchmaking.

Later that night, Dean was lounging on Bobby's scratchy, plaid couch enjoying a rerun of Dr. Sexy, when he felt a sharp tap on the back of his head. Bobby was standing above him, looking sour, and holding a spatula.

"OW!" Dean said, looking up at his foster father with an affronted expression. "Abuse! I could report you!"

"Oh shut up." Bobby rolled his eyes. "Are you gonna sit there like a lump or are you gonna help me make dinner?" He growled.

"But… Sam?" Dean looked around for his younger brother, upon whom he'd been shoving chores for his entire life.

"Sam's got homework, same with Castiel. YOU on the other hand appear to be ogling that man's boots, which is pretty much the same as doing nothing at all."

"But… Dr. Sexy…" Dean whined, but Bobby had already grabbed the remote off the couch and switched the TV off. Dean reluctantly dragged himself up and followed Bobby petulantly into the kitchen. There was an onion, a green pepper, and a couple carrots waiting for him on the chopping block. The instrument of their demise was a nice, sizeable knife, the kind that's too fancy to go through the dishwasher. Dean picked it up and it had some heft in his hand.

"What do you want me to do?" Dean asked.

"Guess." Bobby said, looking at the set-up and then up at Dean with a pained expression.

"Fine whatever." Dean sighed and picked up the onion. His dad had let him help cook from time to time whenever they were in a place with a kitchen, so he knew a little bit about chopping stuff up. Although, Julia Child would probably have been disappointed in him. The knife sliced through the onion with a quick and satisfying thunk on to the cutting board, leaving behind two perfect halves.

"You gotta peel it first, idjit." Bobby noted.

"Oh." Dean put the knife down carefully, suddenly painfully aware of how easy it would be to cut his own finger off with that thing. And he'd been too close to getting cut up by knives that week for that to sound cool in any way.

"So… does Castiel's family visit ever?" Dean asked. "I know like, my Dad gets to come every week but I haven't noticed anybody come for Cas."

Bobby was stirring a sauce on the counter next to a big pot of what Dean assumed was pasta.

"You noticed that huh?" Bobby said. "I adopted Castiel. He came to us when he was 9 and his family gave up their visitation rights."

"But he has parents?" Dean asked, struggling to get the outermost layer off of the onion without losing too much of the good part. "Like, biological parents?"

"Nope. Both died when he was a baby. He was raised by his brother and siblings before foster care took him in."

"Brother huh?" Dean asked, smiling to himself, "So, it could've been worse right?"

"It could always be worse" Bobby shrugged. Stirring the pot of boiling noodles absently.

"I just thought…" The knife slipped a little bit on the onion and Dean pulled his fingers back quickly. "He seems sort of, I don't know. The kid went all gray just looking at a squirt gun fight." Dean said. "The most violent video game he plays is Luigi's Haunted Mansion. I thought, maybe… I don't know."

"Well you're more perceptive than you look like aren't you Dean?" Bobby noted, and he sounded genuinely impressed. "You're right. Castiel's kind of sensitive to violence." Bobby turned to look at Dean, who at this point had finished chopping the onion and was staring at the green pepper in utter incomprehension. "He um… you wouldn't guess it but he comes from way worse than you did. He uh, when he was 8 years old his brother Michael killed his brother Lucifer. Castiel found the body. Or at least, reported it, his sister might have seen it first, but she ran away and hasn't been seen since. Michael's still in prison."

Dean stopped chopping and stared at Bobby in shock.

"Really?" He asked. "That's friggin'… that's terrible."

"He's pretty well adjusted, considering." Bobby said with a smile. "Boy didn't say more than two words first couple months we had him."

"We?" Dean asked.

"Oh." Bobby's expression went sad for a second. "My wife. She um, she died. 5 years back."

Dean went back to chopping the vegetables quietly. People seemed to die quite a bit around this family.

Bobby continued,

"That salad's sure taking you a while, you need help?"

"I got it I got it." Dean said. He had a lot to think about.

Castiel was upstairs, working on a math problem. The answer was in the back of the book, but no matter how many different approaches he took to the problem his solution never matched the real one. For the fifth time he stared at the wrong answer, underneath a lot of work that seemed correct.

Scribbling in the margins with his pencil, he allowed his mind to wander.

That Charlie girl was very cute. She was pale and skinny and had red hair and her personality seemed very cheerful.

Too cheerful for Dean. He probably thought she was very annoying.

Castiel shook his head. Dean didn't look at Charlie like she was annoying, he looked at her like she was kind of cool. And he'd held her arm when he walked over to the table. And oh my God he probably wanted to introduce her to them because he actually liked her not like any of those other girls.

A good portion of the top of his notebook was shiny black from the graphite scribbling of his pencil.

A knock on his door made him jump.

"Cas?" Dean's unmistakable gravelly voice called out. "Dinner's ready."

"OK!" Castiel replied too loudly, dropping his pencil in shame in the wreckage of his math homework. He pushed away from his desk and opened the door. Before he ran out though Dean slipped into his room quickly and shut the door behind them.

"Hey, Cas?" He whispered, and Castiel's throat clenched up at having Dean suddenly and inexplicably in his bedroom.

"Yes?" Castiel asked.

"Um, I just wanted to say sorry for dragging you into that, you know, gas station situation. That was kind of fucked up, and I'm sorry that it happened."

"Oh." Castiel blinked a few times. "It's all right, you didn't know that man had a knife."

"Yeah, but it, uh, wouldn't have happened if I hadn't made you sneak out. I just wanted to say sorry."

"I forgive you." Castiel said, thoughtfully.

"BOYS. DINNER. I KNOW YOU AREN'T DEAF." Bobby shouted from downstairs and both Dean and Castiel smiled.

"Ok cool." Dean patted Castiel's shoulder in encouragement. "We should probably go."

In the library before school Dean and Castiel sat together working on math homework. They were interrupted by a redhead wearing keds and a World of Warcraft T-shirt.

"Boys, I have a proposition." Charlie said. Castiel flushed when she pulled up a chair next to Dean, but he said nothing, forcing his face back into blankness and looking down at his worksheet.

"Your propositions suck Charlie." Dean sighed. "You haven't helped me with math YET." But he had a little smile on his face.

Charlie barreled on.

"So there's a dodgeball tournament after school and my team, formally as "the Juggernaut Bitches", have not been doing particularly well. Meg is a member, by the way."

"The Juggernaut Bitches?" Dean asked, raising an eyebrow.

"Yes. Shut up. You know you love it." Charlie said.

Dean rolled his eyes but begrudgingly held up his fist for her to bump. She did so with a smile. Castiel stared at his worksheet.

"Anyway, while we're excellent in spirit we're not so good at like, physical prowess. Or throwing. Or dodging. So uh, I was hoping since you're a big manly man you'd like to join! And Castiel too!"

"Um…" Dean looked over at Castiel, who seemed to be really invested in his homework. "I don't know if that's really Castiel's thing."

Castiel looked up at Dean with a furrowed brow.

"What makes you say that?" He asked.

"Well, you know, it's just kind of… Dodgeball. Sort of, uh… violent?"

Charlie made a skeptical noise.

"It's a rubber ball Dean. We're not punching kittens in the face."

"I'm very good at dodgeball." Castiel said, tilting his head and staring at Dean in confusion. "I'll join."

"Yay!" Charlie clapped her hands with a smile. She looked over at Dean. "You in?"

"When's the next game?" Dean asked, rubbing his forehead with a sigh.

"Right after school. Glad to have you with us Dean." She clapped him on the back and stood up. "Gots to jet. Thanks so much dudes, the Bitches are proud to count you among their ranks."

"I…" Dean protested but she was already gone. "I didn't say I'd play?"

"Will you?" Castiel asked.

"Well, yeah, but I never said I would."

Castiel leaned forward conspiratorially.

"Um, the Juggernaut Bitches. What does that mean?" He whispered.

"Oh man, Cas." Dean laughed and ruffled Castiel's hair, which made the smaller boy flush and pull away in irritation. "Sorry dude, that was just like, the cutest thing I've ever seen." Dean apologized.

"You'll pay for that." Castiel warned.

The Juggernaut Bitches (or Juggernaut B's as the school had them listed) were made up of Charlie, a blonde girl named Becky who was kind of intense, a short guy named Chuck who looked like he'd fall over if a rubber ball came anywhere near him, and Meg, who looked almost pained by how too cool she was for this game. Dean was a full head taller than all of them, except Castiel. They stood in a huddle by the court after school, staring at one another with doomed expressions on their faces.

"All right B's." Charlie said in a huddle. "We've trained for this."

"No we haven't." Chuck complained. "Why's Castiel here? And I've never even seen that other guy before."

"Shut up Chuck." Charlie and Meg said at the same time.

"Anyway, you all know the rules." Charlie continued.

"If you can dodge a wrench you can dodge a ball?" Becky suggested.

"Pretty much. Let's DO THIS! WE'RE THE JUGGERNAUT Bs!"

Dean had always been good at dodgeball, since he was 8 years old and famously turned a whole game around when it was just him against 5 opponents on a public playground. Looking at his cohorts however, he didn't really see that they had much of a chance. Chuck was tiny and frightened like a baby weasel, and Becky appeared to be making a daisy chain. Seeing as they were on concrete, he had no idea where she got the daisies. Meg was standing in bored silence and Charlie was paying more attention to what Meg looked like in shorts and a tank top than she did the game.

"You guys ready?" Dick Roman, the captain of the other team, shouted.

Dean glanced over at Castiel. He was standing near Chuck, who apparently he was somewhat acquainted with from class, and staring at the line in the center of the court intensely. He didn't seem to be nervous or uncomfortable or anything, but Dean edged a little bit closer to him anyway. Castiel's panicked face in the kitchen after the knife incident had haunted Dean, and he wanted to make sure it didn't happen again.

At the blow of the whistle everybody sprinted to the center of the court to grab the six balls waiting there. Castiel got there first, nimbly picking up a ball and backing up with a surprising physical confidence. Dean got there next and had the misfortune of going for the same ball as that Dick guy, who elbowed him hard in the shoulder as they both ducked for it.

"Are you kidding!?" Dean hissed as he ran back, fortunately keeping his grip on the ball and escaping somewhat bruised but still at advantage. Charlie had got one as well, so each team had three balls and six players on the field.

Meg was standing in the back corner, glancing with longing over at the bag that had her phone in it.

Dean managed to knock out one of the guys on the other team pretty quick and just barely dodged the counter attack. Castiel was still playing in the back, and appeared to be serving as Chuck's protector.

Charlie wasn't kidding when she said the Juggernauts weren't particularly good at this. Becky was out of the game almost immediately, Chuck would have been too if Castiel hadn't deflected a few balls for him, and while Charlie managed to dodge pretty well her arm was weak and her throws were all over the place.

Meg had yet to do a single thing.

"WATCH OUT!" he shouted when he saw a ball speeding toward her head, but Meg grabbed it out of the air like nothing.

"Sweet! I'm out right?" She asked with a smile, tossing the ball to Dean and starting to walk off the court.

"No! They're out! You caught it! Nice catch!" Dean congratulated her.

"I still have to play? UGH" Meg sighed, dragging herself back out.

"Good enthusiasm" Dean said, just barely dodging another ball. He ran to grab it and look at the situation at hand.

The other team was down to four, while they were still at five, which was a friggin' miracle.

"You ok Cas?" Dean asked.

"Yes of course." He replied. He deflected another ball, which had been aimed at Chuck (who seemed to be pacing nervously while making no attempt to do anything useful) and then threw his ball back at their opponents half-heartedly.

"Just checking!" Dean asked and then turned around to an incredibly fast moving ball right in his face. For a second he was too stunned to feel pain but then his whole face was stinging from the impact.

"BELOW THE SHOULDERS!" The ref called out. "Who threw that?"

"Dick did." Castiel said, and with terrifying accuracy he threw a red ball directly at the guy, pegging him right in the center of his chest. You could hear the ringing thunk, and Dick actually fell down.

"Fair hit!" The ref said. "You're out!"

"Am I!?" Dean asked, but Castiel was already leaning over him with concern.

"Your nose is bleeding." Castiel said. "You should get ice."

He helped Dean stand up and Dean clung to him as they left the court.

"Wait! You guys!" Charlie called out, "We need you! We'll lose!"

"Timeout over." The ref said, who had a roast in a crock pot and wanted to get home to eat it as soon as possible. "Keep playing."

Castiel helped Dean into a chair and somebody handed them a first aid kit.

"I'm fine, I don't need it." Dean said. His face was stinging and felt swollen. "You ok Cas?" He asked, through lips that felt puffy and uncooperative.

"Dean." Castiel said, with utmost seriousness. "You're bleeding. I'm fine." He took an ice pack and put it on the bridge of Dean's nose. "keep pressure there." He said.

"Thanks man." Dean said. "That Dick guy's a dick."

"Well put." Castiel said and the corners of his mouth turned up ever so slightly.

"What?"

"Nothing." Castiel had placed his hand on Dean's back to comfort him and he could feel his muscles through his t-shirt. Dean didn't jerk away, so Castiel kept his hand right where it was.

A loud whistle made both of them jump.

"GAME!" The referee called. "The Juggernaut B's win!"

"Seriously?" Dean asked, looking up over his cold pack to see Meg and Charlie hugging triumphantly on the court, while the rest of the other team walked off the court dejectedly.

"WOO HOO! GO US!" shouted Becky with frightening enthusiasm.

"We have to play again?" Chuck griped.

"You were amazing!" Charlie gushed to Meg as they walked off the court. "Why didn't you say you were so good at this!?"

"Because then people would ask me to participate." Meg shrugged. She looked at Dean and Castiel, who still had his arm on Dean's back. "How's your boyfriend?" She asked.

Castiel pulled his hand back immediately in shame.

"I've been worse." Dean shrugged. "You should see the other guy!"

"Dick?" Meg asked, skeptically. "Dick's fine."

"Ssshh." Dean said. "Give me this, ok?"

Everybody started to get their stuff together. The next round of games was next week, and the Juggernauts were going to advance in the tournament. Castiel had picked up his backpack and was about to head out to where he knew Bobby would be waiting to pick them up when he felt a hand grab his arm.

"Castiel, can I talk to you for a minute?" Meg asked.

"Of course." Castiel responded.

"So…" Meg ran her hand through her red streaked hair with a nervous twitch. "So uh, The Sadie Hawkins dance is coming up."

"Yes." Castiel agreed.

"And um, I was just…" Meg shifted on her feet, speaking more softly than usual. "If I asked you, would you say yes?"

"Is this… are you asking me?" Castiel asked.

"No, I'm asking if you'd say yes if I asked you."

"I… I don't know. You haven't asked yet. Apparently."

"Because, see, I've been asked." Meg said. "And, pretty much, I'd go with you if I knew you were an option, but if you're going to be a dick and say no than I'll totally go with this other chick."

"So you're asking, hypothetically, would I say yes if you asked me?" Castiel repeated.

"Yeah."

"Um. No?" Castiel finally answered.

"Oh." Meg's expression of disappointment was so fleeting you could blink and miss it. It was replaced by a look of sort of resigned irritation. "Well, looks like I'm going with Charlie then." She started to walk off.

"Charlie!?" Castiel repeated, in disbelief. Every interaction between Dean and Charlie ran through his head in the course of half a second and he realized that he was an idiot. This changed everything. "Meg! Wait!" Castiel said, following after her. "Um…" He glanced behind him to see if anyone was there, but he could see Dean getting into Bobby's car all the way on the other side of the parking lot. Just about everybody else had left the courts, and the two of them were standing awkwardly on the sidelines. Castiel continued. "I just want you to know that I would say no, hypothetically, not because you aren't lovely and great, but because, um, I happen to, uh, prefer the company of men." Just saying it out loud was enough to get his heart pounding and ears buzzing with nervous energy.

"WHAT!?" Meg asked. "REALLY!?"

"I… well, yes." Castiel admitted, flushing like a schoolgirl in an early 20th century novel. "You're going to a dance with a woman, I thought you'd be more, um, accepting."

"Yeah whatever, but REALLY?" A grin spread across Meg's face. "Well, little dude, that's a much better excuse than most."

"I hope you understand, I'm very fond of you." Castiel said.

"Oh shut up you sound like a dweeb." Meg said. "But you're GAY!? I didn't see that coming!"

"Neither did I. But it's becoming more difficult to ignore." Castiel admitted.

"Oh my fucking Christ. Dean." Meg shook her head, eyes widening at the realization.

"No." Castiel censored, "Please."

"You're in love with DEAN!" Meg started to laugh.

"PLEASE MEG." Castiel grabbed her hands pleadingly. "He can't know. No one can know."

"Castiel, this is the most beautiful thing I've ever seen in my life. Forget I asked you to Sadie Hawkins, this is infinitely better. You and DEAN. Your foster brother eh? Kinky. You should tell him."

"I… I can't. Obviously I can't" Castiel said. Bobby's car horn honked from across the lot. "I have to go." Castiel hurried off to the not altogether encouraging sound of Meg Master's laugh.


	5. Empathy

**Chapter 5: Empathy**

After celebratory burgers at Tibbett diner in light of their recent dodgeball success, Bobby, Dean, Castiel, and Sam sat around, stuffed and lazy, in Bobby's living room. Dean had almost beaten a first person shooter video game, but he had turned down playing it in favor of playing cards with Castiel. The two of them were sitting in the middle of the floor playing a fast paced game called Nerts. Bobby was reclining in his La-z-boy reading a detective novel. Sam was texting Jess.

"NOOO!" Dean growled. "That was MY friggin' four!"

"If you wanted it you should have moved faster." Castiel said calmly, continuing to flip through his deck and smiling to himself.

Sammy's phone beeped and he checked it hastily.

"How's your GIRLFRIEND!?" Dean teased, continuing to play cards but glancing up quickly at his brother.

"She's not my…"Sam corrected, but he trailed off as he finished reading the text. "Um, Bobby?"

"Oh boy." Bobby sighed, looking up from his book.

"Sam got a sext." Dean said. "You should ground him."

Castiel laughed and Dean edged him out for a queen of diamonds he'd been waiting for.

"It's not!" Sam protested, but his voice cracked and both Dean and Castiel continued to giggle. "Um, Jess just asked if I wanted to see a movie Saturday." He said.

"OOOOH!" Dean exclaimed. "A date! Castiel, Sammy's got a date."

"I heard." Castiel replied. "I'm happy for him."

"You're asking if you can go to a movie on Saturday?" Bobby asked.

"Um, yes." Sam admitted. "If you could drive me."

"Hold up." Dean paused, and Castiel stopped laying cards down. Dean looked up at his brother seriously. "You can't this Saturday Sam, Dad's visiting this Saturday."

Sam's face fell, and he looked from Dean to Bobby with a worried line on his forehead.

"It's true Sam." Bobby said. "You'll have to ask your dad's permission."

Sam let out an irritated sigh and leaned back against the couch.

"He's gonna cancel." Sam muttered. "We all know he's going to cancel."

"Hey." Dean's voice was tense. They hadn't really talked about what happened at their father's last visit; Dean's usual mode of dealing with shit like this was pretending it hadn't happened. This case had been no exception.

"Boys, calm down, you got options. Your daddy's date to visit is this Saturday but if you call him he could reschedule it, that's perfectly all right. Or you could ask Jess to reschedule." Bobby explained coolly.

"I don't want to talk to him." Sam said.

"Sam!" Dean warned again.

"Well you're going to have to talk to him one way or another, you can either call him to change the date or see him on Saturday." Bobby said.

Castiel watched Dean's expression with concern. He was staring at his brother with a look of, was it anger? He had supposed it might be anger but there was a bit of fear in it as well.

Sam looked down at his phone grumpily.

"Jess is on the dance team so she's busy Friday and she can't do anything Sunday because she has church." Sam muttered.

"Looks like you either got to call your dad or give up on the date." Bobby said. "Sorry."

"He's not going to change for _me_." Sam said, standing up and walking upstairs with a sulky stomp. Castiel looked down at the cards in his hand awkwardly.

Dean, who had been rapping the floor with his knuckles, rolled his eyes.

"Son of a bitch." He said, and pulled his cell phone out of his pocket. He stepped away from the cards and dialed, pacing back and forth across the floor. Bobby looked over at Castiel questioningly but Castiel could only shrug.

"Hey, Dad?" Dean said. "I um, I've got a thing this Saturday, is it ok if you come to visit next weekend?" He paused for a bit, nodding. "Yes sir. Yes sir I understand. A commitments a commitment I got that." He rubbed his forehead for a second and Castiel could hear the metallic rumble of John Winchester's voice on the other side of the phone. "Next weekend will work then? All right. Yes, thank you. Goodbye." Dean shut the phone off with a click and sat down, expression grim.

"Well what made you do that? Dean?" Bobby asked, surprised and impressed.

"Sammy's never been on a date before." Dean muttered, picking up his cards and running his hands through his hair. "So what," He looked back at Castiel, teasing tone back in his voice. "You ready to finish this game?"

Castiel's picked up his own deck obediently.

"I'm ready to _beat_ you at this game." He said.

"Oh yeah?" Dean smiled, and they started to play again. Bobby rolled his eyes and looked back at his book.

"NERTS!" Castiel shouted when he achieved the object of the game.

"SON OF A BITCH!" Dean responded.

"Idjits." Bobby muttered under his breath while the boys gathered up their cards to see who had really won.

In a fit of planning and organization Charlie rounded up the Juggernauts to practice dodgeball at the park. However, despite all of her best intentions, every single court was taken except for the squash courts. Charlie had everybody pair off and complete the perhaps vaguely useful task of throwing the balls at a wall and catching them as they bounced back. Meg and Castiel shared a court.

Castiel was throwing the ball intensely, aiming at a different spot on the wall every time to improve his accuracy. Every few seconds Castiel would glance over to the next court; Dean was practicing with Chuck and he was just starting to sweat enough that a pattern had formed on his shirt.

"I can see why you like him." Meg whispered, catching Cas unawares. "Look at those shoulders." She praised. Dean threw the ball again with a grunt, twisting his torso like an ancient statue of an Olympic competitor.

Castiel didn't respond, he just turned away from Dean and handed Meg the ball with a cautionary look. Meg didn't seem to notice.

"I'll bet he has a nice back." She pondered, bouncing the ball up and down. "You've seen it right? Family trips to the pool or whatever? Or do you guys have little sleepovers in each other's rooms at night?"

"Please stop." Castiel said.

"All right all right." Meg said. She threw the ball at the wall weakly and when it bounced back it hit Castiel's shoulder. It stung. "Sorry." She said, with a very unapologetic lilt to her tone.

"What are you two doing?!" Charlie shouted from behind, making both of them jump.

"Um, practicing?" Castiel said, running over to collect the ball.

"Yeah babe." Meg said with a little smile. Charlie flushed at the word "babe" and waved her hand limply at them to carry on.

Castiel stepped over to Meg.

"You don't understand. Dean cannot know. It would only make him uncomfortable."

"Oh I don't know, he's got some starry eyes when he looks at you Castiel, don't cut yourself short here." Meg smiled mischievously, spinning the red ball on her finger.

Castiel sighed and snatched the ball out of her hands again.

"You are mistaken." He said, throwing the ball at the wall and missing his intended target by a considerable margin.

"I'm not. But you're cute." Meg said.

Dean continued practicing the next court over, unaware of any of this. His partner, Chuck had a tendency to throw the ball and then cringe and duck when it flew back towards him, which Dean found almost too sad to articulate.

"What um, drew you to dodgeball?" Dean asked, trying to be polite.

"My mom caught me smoking weed and said she'd turn me in to the cops unless I joined a team sport." Chuck said, sadly staring at the ball in his hand like it was an albatross around his neck.

Dean shook his head and threw the ball back at the wall, and heard Chuck's predictable whimper from behind him as he did so. Dean closed his eyes and mentally reminded himself that he was still a cool kid. He was Dean Freaking Winchester. He glanced over at the court where Meg was leaning over Castiel's shoulder and whispering in his ear. A strange, protective feeling came over him. He didn't trust that chick.

The night of Sam's date with Jessica Bobby had decided to take Jody to see another film, so Dean and Castiel had the house to themselves.

"Don't steal any cars you two." Jody warned them with a wink as she, Bobby, and a very nervous looking Sam left the house that night. She was dressed in a very unsherifflike purple sundress and while her hair was still simple and pulled back it was clear that she had put forth an effort.

"Don't make any babies!" Dean muttered under his breath once all three of them were out of earshot. Castiel snorted from his position on the couch.

"So!" Dean said, turning around and looking at his friend with a smile, rubbing his hands expectantly. "We're sixteen and we have the house to ourselves. What do you want to do?"

"Um." Castiel's brow furrowed thoughtfully. "Make smores in the microwave?" He suggested.

"Oh hell yeah." Dean agreed and they high fived.

They each ate about five smores until even they had to admit they were feeling a little sick. After the rush of excitement from watching marshmallows puff up in the microwave had waned slightly, Dean restlessly looked for something else to do. Castiel picked up his book from off the counter and took a quick peek inside, but Dean slammed it shut.

"No way Cas!" He said. "You are not reading freaking Catch-22. We are unsupervised troubled youths. We gotta do better than this."

Castiel smiled at Deans determination and obediently shut the book.

"So what do troubled youths do?" Castiel suggested. "I don't know how to start a meth lab." He joked.

Dean scowled and opened the refrigerator door to see what other foodstuffs they could goof around with. After a few minutes digging through the refrigerator, in which time Castiel sneakily read a few more pages of his book, Dean turned around in triumph."

"Cas. Check this out."

Dean held up a medium sized bottle of vodka he'd dug out of the freezer, buried under some ancient frozen chicken breasts and a fruitcake that had to be from Christmas. The bottle had ice crystals forming on it.

"I didn't know Bobby drank vodka." Castiel said.

"I don't think Bobby knows he drinks vodka Cas. He totally forgot this was in there."

Castiel's eyes narrowed dubiously.

"You can't be sure." He said.

"I'm like, 89% sure Castiel. Look, it's open, he had one drink, put it away and forgot it even existed." Dean grinned widely and devilishly.

"We can't." Castiel said, nervously drumming his fingers on the counter. "Bobby's out with _the Sheriff_."

"He'll never know. We'll be asleep by the time he gets home. C'mon Cas." Dean had unscrewed the top of the vodka with a satisfying crunching noise and had pulled down some glasses. "We'll mix it with coke, it'll be awesome."

"Dean, why?" Castiel asked. "We'll just get in trouble."

"You ever been drunk before, Cas?" Dean asked.

"Obviously not Dean. You knew that before you asked."

"Well there's a first time for everything. I'll take care of you, you're totally safe." Dean met Castiel's eyes for just long enough to make Castiel flush, and then poured coke until the glasses were about halfway full. He added a generous spike of vodka into each, and then pushed one over to his friend.

Castiel sighed and picked it up. It smelled unpleasant, the alcohol cutting into the fizzy scent of coca-cola.

"Cheers." He said dubiously, and took a tentative sip. Dean grinned and took a more confident one.

About 40 minutes and 3 shots later Castiel was sitting on the floor of the kitchen, with Dean next to him, giggling about Becky.

"No shit man, she legit asked me if I curled my eyelashes." Dean repeated, rubbing his eyes and laughing to himself.

"I think she likes you." Castiel suggested. His cheeks felt warm and he was beginning to understand what people meant when they said they were "buzzed." He felt like everything was just slightly out of focus and distant, but in a pleasant way.

"I think she likes a lot of things bro." Dean said, giggling again. "hey, what do you think," Dean elbowed Castiel teasingly, "you think Sam's making out with Jess now?"

"I don't know. Weren't they seeing an action movie?" Castiel asked. "Not very romantic. Explosions."

"You kidding? Explosions are the best time to make out dude, nobody in the theater can hear you."

"But people are dying." Castiel repeated. "I mean, fictional people. They're dying."

"Last thing on your mind when you're making out with some chick." Dean sighed. "I don't think Sam's kissing her, I'll bet he's sitting all scared with his hands on his knees like a dork."

"You think?"

"Oh yeah." Dean said. "Poor kid." He finished off his coke and awkwardly put it up on the counter before sinking back down next to Castiel. "He hasn't had his first kiss yet you know?"

"mm." Castiel said, staring at the linoleum intensely, trying to pretend he thought 13 was way too old to have never been kissed. "When did you have your first kiss?" He asked.

"When I was 11. Carrie Hallinan. She was my first crush. Well, my first real person crush. My first EVER crush was that chick from that kids show Lazytown. With the pink hair."

"I liked Steve." Castiel giggled, thinking of the striped shirt guy from Blues Clues.

"Steve? From Blues Clues?" Dean repeated, slowly, cautiously. "You had a crush on Steve."

Castiel realized what he'd just admitted and froze. For half a second he considered denying it, but the thought of coming up with a lie just then seemed way beyond his grasp. He flushed and looked down.

"Yeah Steve. I used to sing along to all the songs and pretend I lived in that house with them." Castiel admitted. It was true. He'd spent a lot of time in front of the TV when he was a little kid, trying to stay out of Michael's way. "When they switched actors I cried."

"Oh." Dean said. For a few minutes both of them sat in silence and Dean sunk a little bit lower onto the floor. Castiel's heart was pounding, he'd never told anyone about Steve. "Sooo…" Dean finally said, voice soft. "Were you going to tell me?"

"I didn't realize you cared so much about my taste in children's television." Castiel said. Dean just stared at him solemnly. Castiel crossed his arms. "So I'm gay. What does it matter?" He put on a stubborn face and considered pouring another glass of vodka coke.

"It doesn't!" Dean said, "Look dude, I'm cool with whatever."

Castiel was suddenly extremely aware of the fact that their arms were touching and if he moved his hip a bit it would be right next to Dean's. They were very close. For the next few minutes they were quiet. Castiel's mind was racing with a million little worries.

"You had your first kiss yet?" Dean asked, out of the blue. He turned his face towards Castiel's and their proximity was startling. Castiel could smell the cheap liquor on his breath.

"No." Castiel admitted hesitantly. He looked down, embarrassed. "I know, Sam's gonna beat me to it."

"Maybe not." Dean said, and he gave Castiel an innocent, entirely unexpected, peck on the lips.

For a second Castiel thought that he had passed out and had dreamed it, but he opened his eyes and Dean was still there. Dean's eyes were closed and about a millimeter from his face and Castiel just had time to think that Becky might have a point about that curled eyelashes thing when Dean pulled his face away quickly.

"I…" He stuttered, scrambling up to his feet. Castiel stayed where he was, on the floor, looking up at Dean in utter shock. "I… don't.." Dean repeated, touching his lips. He shook his head and fled upstairs.

Castiel didn't stand up or anything, he just bit his bottom lip nervously and looked around the now painfully empty kitchen. The only noise was the hum of the refrigerator.

"I didn't even do anything." He muttered, staring at the glass in his hands. "I didn't do ANYTHING."

He eventually dragged himself up and started to clean up the kitchen, rinsing out both glasses that had gotten sticky and gross from the soda, and burying the cold vodka bottle back in the depths of the freezer. There was a lot less vodka in it then there had been. If Bobby ever looked at it he was sure to know right away what had happened.


	6. In my Khaki Pants

**Chapter 6: In my Khaki Pants**

The next morning Castiel peeked out his door worriedly when he heard Dean walking down the hall. Dean didn't make eye contact with him, he grimly set his stare straight ahead and walked past quickly, like a girl in a mini skirt walking through a construction site.

Castiel shut his door and took a deep breath. He felt a little dry mouthed from drinking the night before but the sickness in his stomach was from the paralyzing worry that had kept him up all night.

When he came down for breakfast Dean was sitting in his usual spot at the table, shoveling spoonfuls of honey nut cheerios into his mouth as though nothing was wrong. He looked up and made brief eye contact with Castiel, smiling and nodding almost apologetically. Castiel's heart beat rapidly as he prepared his own breakfast, and even though Sam told him enthusiastically about his date Castiel didn't really take in much of it. The weekend passed in an agony of fake smiles and forced normalcy.

Dean sat next to Castiel as per usual on the bus to school that Monday, but he was more rigid than usual. Their knees never came close to accidentally touching. Once Castiel was inside the school he nodded curtly at Dean and fled away to his locker.

Dean threw his backpack over his shoulder with a sigh and made his way over to the library as fast as he could.

His target was seated alone at a library table, reading a Batwoman comic.

"Charlie." Dean said, tapping her shoulder and sinking into the chair next to her at the table. "I need a favor."

Charlie looked up at him dubiously.

"Wait, isn't this backwards?" She asked.

"Dude, you owe me like 8 favors don't even start with this." Dean said.

"No right, go ahead." Charlie put her book down and crossed her hands like a therapist or something.

"So…" Dean lowered his voice and leaned over to her. "You're gay, right?"

"Um. Yes Dean. We've been through this." Charlie said.

"How did you know?" Dean asked.

"Excuse me?"

"Like when did you figure it out? Were you a little kid?" Dean stared at Charlie in rapt attention, chewing his bottom lip absently from time to time.

"I figured it out in middle school." Charlie said. "When I just didn't get what the fuss was over all those crappy boy bands everybody was falling in love with. And then I read a comic book called Fun Home and I figured out what was up."

"Ok. So kind of later then?" Dean leaned back in his chair thoughtfully.

"Dean, if you don't mind me asking, what the hell?" Charlie asked.

"It's like, it's nothing." Dean said, rubbing his forehead. He looked up in exasperation. "I mean, when I was in middle school I was hooking up with like three different chicks."

"Impressive!" Charlie congratulated. "Although you're kind of a pig. And also I don't know what you're talking about."

"I'm just…" Dean rubbed the back of his neck. "Just like… never mind." Dean stood up and hurried out of the library, hunching his shoulders and throwing his backpack on in a preoccupied fashion. Charlie stared at his retreat in confusion, but was soon distracted by a pair of feminine hands that began to massage her neck.

"What was that about?" Meg asked, leaning over Charlies shoulder and asking in her raspy and sexy voice. Charlie melted a little bit, whimpering cutely as she closed her eyes and leaned back into the massage.

"Dean wanted to know about when I realized I was gay." She said. "I have no idea why."

"I might." Meg smiled, pinching Charlie's neck playfully. "But I can't tell you. I promised I wouldn't."

"Whatever, put your hands on my neck again…" Charlie purred.

The Sadie Hawkins dance was that Saturday, and tickets were on sale at lunch. Dean, Castiel, Meg, and Charlie were seated at their usual lunch spot. Dean's gaze shifted sporadically between the people around him, lingering whenever it fell on to Castiel. The last time he'd had a group of people to sit with consistently at lunch was never. It had never happened in his life. The thought of Castiel or Meg or Charlie drifting away from him made his heart rate go up. Well, Meg could probably sit someplace else and that would be fine. But sitting alone after sitting with Castiel felt like abandonment.

"So… conversation's kind of sub-par today, huh?" Charlie observed.

"Um." Castiel contributed, tearing a bit of his lunch bag into tiny pieces.

"Er…" Dean concurred.

"Oookay." Charlie sighed. She looked over at Meg, who had a strange expression on her face as she eyed the two young men. She looked kind of wickedly triumphant, which was weird considering how mind bogglingly awkward the two young men were being. "I think I'll go buy our tickets to the Sadie Hawkins." Charlie said.

"I'll come!" Meg smiled broadly at Charlie. "I want to see you make history."

"Oh…" Charlie kind of chirped proudly, blushing as she dug through her backpack for her wallet. "See you in a minute." She said to Dean and Castiel as she and Meg departed for the ticket sales table.

Abandoned, Dean and Castiel sat next to one another in a painfully uncomfortable silence.

"I hope they have a good time." Dean attempted. "Dances suck."

"I've never been." Castiel responded, then cringed at how obvious the reason why was.

"Oh. Yeah." Dean took an overlarge bite of his sandwich. "How about that dodgeball team huh?" He tried again. Small talk. Not his forte.

The line was short, so Meg and Charlie made it up to the table to buy tickets after just a few minutes. It was a student run event, so a member of the student council sat behind the table, looking bored and checking her cell phone every five minutes.

"Two please." Charlie demanded.

"Name?" The blonde girl asked, picking up her pen to sign them up.

"Charlie Bradbury."

"And your date?"

"Meg Masters."

The girl looked up with an exasperated expression.

"No, the boy's name." She said.

"There's no boy. I'm taking Meg." Charlie clarified. She and Meg exchanged meaningful glances before turning their attention back to the girl.

"There has to be a boy though." The girl said. "It's a girls ask the boys dance, that's the point."

"Yeah, I'm a girl and I asked a girl." Charlie explained.

The girl selling tickets gave a long-suffering sigh and turned the sheet she was holding towards Meg and Charlie. There were two columns, one sad "Girls" one said "Boys".

"I've got to write your names down there. You've got to have a boy." She said.

"That's terrible!" Charlie said, stunned. "How heterofrickinnormative is that?" She paused for a minute. "Can't you just put Charlie on the boy side?" She asked, "That's a boy name."

"Look, it's our policy, I don't want to get in trouble, can you just give us boy names?"

Meg stepped in front of Charlie.

"Sure. Charlie's going with Dean Winchester, I'm going with Castiel Milton."

"What?!" Charlie sputtered, still furious, but the girl working had already started to write the names down. She even looked slightly envious at the fact Charlie was taking Dean Winchester.

"Just do it, this is going to be hilarious." Meg said, rubbing Charlie's back. "Don't even worry about it babe."

Dean and Castiel spend the entirety of the next week trying to get out of going to the Sadie Hawkins dance, but neither of them anticipated how stubborn Meg Masters could be.

Castiel tried to corner her when she was changing for dodgball practice after school.

"We'll split up once we get there it will be fine you don't have to dance or anything." She explained, elbowing him out of the way.

Dean ditched fourth period to seek her out in her hiding place behind the theater office.

"You don't even have to pay for the tickets!" She said with an exasperated sigh. "And do you have a hall pass because you could get suspended for this."

Both Castiel and Dean begged her at lunch on Friday to reconsider.

"Suck it up fuckheads." Meg announced with finality. "You're going to Sadie's."

After school that day Castiel approached her quietly.

"I don't know what you're doing." He said. "But please. Stop."

Meg gave a half smile and patted the side of Castiel's face

"I do know what I'm doing." She said. "And you'll thank me later." Meg gave him a peck on the cheek and swept away mischievously to wherever the hell it was Meg went after school.

And so it was that on Saturday, Dean found himself sitting on the couch with his visiting father, dressed like an idiot, and waiting for his date to pick him up for a freaking dance.

"So we all have to wear the same thing for some stupid reason so Meg bought us these purple striped shirts." Dean smoothed out his dark purple button down shirt with black stripes. He felt ridiculous. Castiel had yet to emerge from upstairs.

"I remember. I went to a few Sadie Hawkins dances in my time." John Winchester smiled.

"Let me guess. They suck balls." Dean muttered.

"They can be fun." John shrugged. "How much do you like this Charlie girl?"

"Um." Dean bit his lip as he looked at his former marine father and decided that maybe he didn't need to know every single Sapphic detail about the situation. "She's cool. I guess." He said.

Sam cut in.

"I've been dating someone." He said.

John and Dean both looked over at Sam in surprise. It was the first friendly addition he'd made to a conversation with his father in months.

"Well that's great Sam." John said. "What's her name?"

"Jess." Dean said with a grin. "She's cute as hell too, all blonde and smiley."

"She's really smart." Sam said. "And funny."

"And cute as hell." Dean added, making Sam blush.

"Shh Dean." John silenced his son but Dean just laughed.

"Well you just watch out for yourself ok?" John Winchester said. "Don't get all wound up over some girl just to get your heart broken. You're very young."

"I…" A cloud of irritation hovered over Sam's face but he looked over at Dean before responding. He wouldn't even have been able to go on the date that cemented his relationship with Jess if it hadn't been for Dean calling their father. He retracted his claws. "Sure dad." He muttered. "Thanks for the advice."

The stairs creaked as Castiel descended, making everyone turn. If he had been a girl on her way to a chastity ball he would have ended his dramatic entrance with a twirl. As it was he fidgeted like a man on the way to the gallows.

"Well Castiel!" Missouri said from her post in the kitchen. "Don't you look handsome!"

"I…" Castiel toyed with the hem of his purple shirt, looking miserable. "I have absolutely no interest in attending this dance."

"You and me friggin' both." Dean laughed, standing up.

"You two are wearing the same shirt?" John Winchester asked, mockingly. "It looks like you're going together!" He started to laugh.

"The girls are wearing the same shirts too we're all wearing the same thing." Dean explained hurriedly, glancing at Castiel and not failing to note that he flushed crimson.

"Wait, let me take a picture of the two of you." John said, standing up and pushing the two boys together at the foot of the stairs. "This is great." He chuckled to himself as he pulled his phone out for the photo. Dean and Castiel stood next to each other awkwardly, rigidly still.

"C'mon!" Sam said from his side of the room. "pose or something!"

Castiel looked at Dean like a frightened rabbit, and Dean rolled his eyes and gave in.

"Bring it on." He said, putting on a pouty duck lips face that made everybody laugh. Castiel flushed and giggled and finally managed to smile as they posed for a few photos. Dean's "Blue Steel" was almost frighteningly good, the best Castiel could manage was an eyebrow raise.

By the time Charlie showed up with her car to drive everybody to the dance Castiel and Dean were feeling more comfortable, for the first time in a while. Sam gave Dean a quick hug before he ran out the door.

"Be nice to dad ok?" Dean whispered.

"I'll try." Sam promised with a smile, and waved as his brother went off to do beard duty for some cute lesbians.

Really the only part of Meg's argument for going to Sadie Hawkins that made any sense was that they weren't going to be allowed in to the dance unless they had a dude with them. Castiel and Dean had made every argument they could think of against being dragged off to the dance, but Meg's insistence that by not going they were preventing Meg and Charlie from going together had been the one that had made Dean chalk it up and put on the purple button down.

So when the people taking tickets didn't even look twice at them and just let everybody in, Dean's head could have exploded.

"You people are crazy." Dean growled as they walked into their high school gym. The decoration team had really outdone themselves in procrastination, a few of them were still running around putting sad little balloons in corners to try to make the place look more festive. But there was no hiding the fact that they had put a tarp on the floor of the gym and hired a dj, and that was the end of it.

"Well Dean, it's been fun." Charlie said, dropping his hand immediately upon setting foot in the gym. "See you later." She glanced over at Meg, who was whispering something in Castiel's ear and holding on to his arm. "Meg?" She asked. "Ready?"

"Oh." Meg smiled softly and gave Castiel a rueful look. "Looks like I've been claimed." She winked at Castiel and moved over to her date reluctantly. Dean eyed the way Meg lingered at Castiel's side with irritation, and he heard Charlie give little grunt of frustration as she clamped down on her date's hand possessively.

Castiel wandered over to Dean with an apologetic look.

"So." He said, as the two girls disappeared into the crowd. "now what do we do?"

There were only a few students here and there, everybody paired up in couples and milling around the gym awkwardly. The disco ball cast disconcerting sparkly light over Castiel's grim expression.

"Snacks. Let's get some fucking snacks." Dean said.

In a few minutes Dean and Castiel were sitting behind the folded up bleachers in a dark corner of the gym, with napkins full of cookies and tiny wax cups full of lemonade.

"We should have got drunk before this, man." Dean said, raising his voice to be heard over the shitty music. "This blows."

"I don't know if that would be a good idea." Castiel said, taking a neat bite of a cookie. "I'm not quite recovered from our last adventure with alcohol."

It was too dark for Castiel to see, but Dean flushed at that.

"Yeah." He said awkwardly. "I'm sorry." He said.

"No!" Castiel protested. "You don't have to apologize Dean! It was… I meant… I'll be quiet."

"Booze huh?" Dean said with an awkward, nervous laugh. "Makes you do weird things."

"Weird. Yes." Castiel repeated softly and then stuffed a lemon sandwich cookie into his mouth in despair.

"Was Meg totally hitting on you when we walked in?" Dean asked, changing the subject. "because that's fucked up, she's supposed to be with Charlie."

"I don't understand anything that Meg does." Castiel admitted.

"I'm starting to think she might actually be evil." Dean said.

"You've said that before Dean." Castiel said with a smile. "I'm not wholly convinced but I can see your argument."

"It's just, you know, Charlie's cool. Total fucking nerd, but like, in a good way. Like you." Dean said.

"Like me?" Castiel repeated. "What am I like?" He asked almost sadly.

"Cool." Dean said. "Like, really cool."

Castiel sat for a few moments after that, putting his snack plate down on the waxy gym floor. The exceptionally loud hip hop music that, as a suburban white kid, he felt vaguely embarrassed that he was expected to dance to, gave him a headache.

"Hey." A parent chaperone leaned over to their space behind the bleachers. "You can't sit back here."

"I lost a contact." Dean said, not moving or even attempting to hide his plate of snacks.

The adult gave an exhausted sigh. It was the sigh of a man who had been roped into making sure a bunch of snotty teenagers didn't have sex with each other on school property.

"Just move." He said.

Castiel had begun to obediently scramble to his feet as soon as the adult had had his presence known, and finally Dean followed, taking his time about it.

"Fucking dances." Dean said, finishing his last couple of oreos quickly and tossing the plastic plate into a trash can.

"Mm." Castiel agreed. More people had arrived, and there were actually couples out on the dance floor at this stage of the evening. Matching couples were everywhere, gazing into each others eyes and getting into bickering matches and all the stuff that happens at events like this. Most of them were popular kids, Dean noticed. The kind of kids that wore Abercrombie and Fitch, drank at house parties, and whose parents owned car dealerships. Dean had never quite learned the language of popular kids, although he could pass amongst their ranks generally for a few weeks before his inevitable social exile. In the darkness he caught Castiel staring at him and met his glare. Dean made a face at him, and Castiel tilted his head with a small smile in response. Castiel was the only human being he'd ever met, apart from his brother, who he felt really, truly comfortable around.

"You dance?" He asked before realizing what he was doing, voice cracking.

"Never." Castiel said, eyes widening. "And I find the prospect intimidating."

"It's not so bad." Dean said. "We should go find the girls."

"I…" Castiel fumbled for words and connected with none. Dean rolled his eyes and gently guided Castiel through the crowd, seeking out their purple shirted companions. The dodged their way through sweaty dancing teens over to Anna and Meg.

"THIS DJ BLOWS." Charlie shouted at the boys when she recognized them. "I requested Jonathan Coulton like a half hour ago!"

"Ok!" Dean shouted back, pretending he knew who that was. He started dancing in the over exaggerated sarcastic way that is characteristic to white boys who have not had their reservations lowered by alcohol and/or drugs. Charlie laughed and danced with him, but Castiel remained rigidly still, glancing manically at everyone around them and trying to stay out of the way more than actually participating in the proceedings. All that meant was he kept getting bumped by happy revelers on all sides.

Dean couldn't help but smile. Pulling the oldest sarcastic joke dance in the book out he pointed at Castiel and started doing the Pulp Fiction eye thing. Castiel stared back in a state of uncomfortable incomprehension. Dean actually laughed out loud.

Out of nowhere Dean felt a presence right behind him. Meg had apparently picked up on the joke dancing vibe and had starting grinding on Dean's ass possessively. Dean obliged, obediently backing that thing up. Castiel turned bright red, visibly embarrassed even under dance lighting.

Meg put her head up against Dean's ear.

"Shall we?" She whispered glancing over at Castiel.

"Oh yeah." Dean agreed, and with a grin of mutual understanding both of them ran over to Castiel and sandwiched him in a bumping and grinding dance assault on two sides. Castiel hid his face in his hands and be bounced helplessly between the two of them, while Charlie looked on, laughing.

"I hate everyone." Castiel said when the song finally ended and Dean and Meg backed up.

"You love us." Meg said.

"Don't be mad." Dean apologized. "You ok?"

The next song that the DJ chose was a painfully bad, saccharine country song, which was of a slow enough tempo to justify slow dancing. It's strange how in the parts of the country where the most people are apt to put "Everything but country and rap" under their music taste on facebook, those seem to be the only two genres DJs choose to play at high school dances.

Meg, despite obvious distaste for the song choice, resignedly reached her hand out to Charlie and the two of them began a swaying hug that in high school counts as a slow dance.

Castiel's jaw clenched. He felt overly warm and sticky and there were too many people. He looked over at Dean nervously and before he had time to register what was happening found Dean's hands on his shoulders. He was looking almost directly into an inhumanly large pair of green eyes.

Suddenly forgetting what hands were supposed to do Castiel looked at Dean in utter helplessness. Dean smiled, shrugged, and pulled Cas in closer, letting Castiel put his hands on his back.

"This ok?" He whispered, understandable over the twangy, autotuned song.

"Oh Christ yes." Castiel hissed. "Just, give me a minute."

They swayed against each other for a few moments while fireworks went off in Castiel's brain. When Dean gave a little contented sigh Castiel figured this was all that he could handle without verbal confirmation of what the fuck was going on. He pushed Dean away.

"Can we go outside a minute?" He asked.

Dean looked nervous as he met Castiel's eyes but he gave a quick nod. The two boys snuck out the exit and went to stand out on the driveway where the DJ's truck was parked. A few seniors were smoking in the parking lot but other than that they were alone, the bass muffled behind closed doors. The night felt cool and calming.

"I'm sorry." Dean said. "That was too much, I guess."

"Dean…" Castiel stared at his foster brother nervously, biting his thumbnail and trying to form coherent thoughts. "Why did you kiss me?" Castiel finally asked the question that had been preying on his mind and hanging over every interaction they had had for the past week. He was so nervous it felt like it was someone else asking or like he was reading from a script. "Because, if it was just because you were drunk I understand…" He continued, quickly, but he was cut off when Dean pulled him into a close hug. It was mind boggling.

"And why is this happening? Now?" Castiel asked.

"I, I have no idea." Dean admitted, pulling back in confusion. "Why I kissed you, why anything." Dean said.

"Oh." Castiel said. They stared at one another silently for a minute. "Well," Castiel asked, voice wavering but gaze steady, "can I just ask, if you don't mean it, please stop. It's actually killing me."

Dean reeled like he'd just been hit. Unable to form words to describe how much he did not want to hurt Castiel, he put his hands on the sides of Castiel's face and gently pulled him in to another kiss.

"I think I mean it." He said. "I mean, I definitely mean it."

"Wow." Castiel breathed.

"Yeah wow." Dean said, and his voice was shaky. Castiel started to kiss him this time, growing a little bolder, running his hands through Dean's hair.

The doors next to them slammed open suddenly, and Dean accidentally bit Castiel's lip as he jumped to disengage.

A faculty member had their hands on somebody's shoulders and was explaining in a loud voice,

"Two girls can't dance that close. There were complaints."

"EVERYONE WAS DANCING THAT CLOSE!" Charlie's recognizable voice called out.

"It's ok, we have boys." Meg explained.

"Oh do you?" The teacher rolled her eyes.

"Right… there." Meg said, realizing who the two incredibly guilty looking young men were, standing out on the grass.

Everyone turned to stare. Dean and Cas were no longer kissing but were standing pretty close still, Dean's collar was messed up and Castiel's was rubbing his bitten lip.

"Those are your dates?" The teacher asked, sounding unconvinced.

"SERIOUSLY!?" Charlie exclaimed. "YOU TWO!?"

"We…" Castiel began to explain.

"I don't even know." Dean said with a shrug.

"It's all Charlie's fault." Meg said, deadpan. "She's a recruiter. This is why you shouldn't let those gays in our schools." She wagged her finger.

"You four have to go home." The teacher said. "There were complaints.

"That's bullshit!" Charlie exclaimed.

"Don't you swear at me." The teacher warned. "Right now you're just going home but I could give you a suspension in no time."

"I…"

"Shh Charlie." Dean stepped in front of the girl who was, at least on paper, his date to the Sadie Hawkins dance.

"Last time I checked it wasn't against school policy to dance with somebody." Dean said.

"You have ten seconds to get out of here and on your way home." The teacher said, voice low.

"Lets go." Castiel said. The four of them started to walk away from the school, buzzed from adrenaline and hormones.

"Were you two making out?!" Charlie asked in a frenzied whisper as they walked quickly across the still fairly packed parking lot to Charlie's car.

"I… yeah." Dean admitted.

"We were definitely making out." Castiel said.

"What the hell you guys!?"

"It's like I said." Meg laughed. "You're contagious Charlie."

"You shut up!" Charlie yelled. "You have been weird and AWFUL this whole time!"

Meg rolled her eyes but she shut up. Charlie was so upset the ride home that she didn't say anything else, but while everyone was sitting in the car silently driving home on the practically empty streets of their little town, Dean put his hand on Castiel's leg and the world got just a little bit brighter. For Cas anyway.


	7. Precarious

**Chapter 7: Precarious**

Bobby usually cleared out for parent visits. He'd shook John Winchester's hand once and done the whole "I'm a good caregiver to your kids" spiel but beyond that the parent/foster parent relationship was always gonna be pretty damn awkward. So when Bobby came home after grocery shopping to find John Winchester still sitting in his living room, he had to kind of adjust.

"Hello John." Bobby said, putting a smile on his face as he walked into his home and fumbling to put his keys away. "have a nice visit?" He asked.

John Winchester stood up and put his hands in his pockets, looking tall and intimidating. "How are they doing?" He asked. "The boys?"

"Oh you know." Bobby shrugged and went over to put some groceries in the fridge. "Getting by. Dean misses you quite a bit."

"Not Sam though." John looked over at the stairs where his son had retreated to his room about an hour ago.

"Sam misses you too, just doesn't know it yet." Bobby said. "they're good boys."

"Mm." John Winchester looked a little uncomfortable talking about his sons. He certainly wasn't used to getting good reports about their behavior.

"I just want you to know," Bobby said "You don't have to worry about anything on my end. I didn't go into fostering as a quick route to adoption, I'm not an idiot. You're gonna work hard and get your sons back. Missouri tells me if you keep showing up for those drug tests and keep up a job you'll get them back in a few months."

John's eyes narrowed. Of yet he didn't have a steady job, and he'd only showed up for the first drug test. He met Bobby's stare coolly.

"I don't need you to tell me how to live my life or raise my sons." John said.

"Of course not." Bobby said, closing the freezer door with a thunk. "You got good sons. They miss you. That's all I'm saying."

Headlights pulled into the driveway and John and Bobby both looked at their watches.

"11:30?" John said. "That's a little early right? For a dance?"

"Well, neither of them seemed too enthusiastic about it." Bobby said. The car sped out of the driveway well before Dean or Castiel appeared on the back porch, but eventually both boys slouched through the door, looking strange and kind of manic.

"Pretty early to be home!" Bobby observed, "have a nice time Castiel?"

"I… I'm going to bed now." Castiel said, fleeing upstairs.

"How about you Dean?" John Winchester asked his son, who had sweated through his striped purple shirt and seemed to be having a hard time making eye contact with anyone.

"Frigging… Dances." Dean growled. "You know." He glanced nervously between his two tall, scruffy, intimidating father figures. "Can I go?"

"Sure." Bobby said, and Dean followed Castiel's route, perhaps quicker.

John and Bobby looked at one another.

"They got kicked out of that dance." John said.

"Don't I know it." Bobby sighed. "Didn't seem drunk though."

"Don't ask don't tell." John sighed.

In Dean and Sam's room, Dean stared at the ceiling, listening to Sam's deep, even breaths.

"You awake?" He whispered. Sam didn't respond, implying the negative. Dean sighed, leaned over the side of his bed and threw a pillow down into the bottom bunk with some force. Sam snorted awake in shock, getting twisted in his too short sheets.

"Huh? God, DEAN." Sam groaned. "what!?"

"I made out with Castiel." Dean said, staring at his brother upside down from the top bunk.

"You… what?"

"That's kinda weird right? Is that weird?" Dean asked.

"Am I still asleep?"

"Shut up, I'm freaking out right now." Dean said. "And give me my pillow back." He pulled himself back up into his bunk and continued staring at the ceiling. Sam obediently tossed the pillow up to his older brother, trying to think of a way to respond to this situation.

"So, you made out with Castiel." Sam repeated.

"That's what I just said dude."

"Shut up I'm trying to help. You made out with Castiel… because you like Castiel?"

"I… yeah." Dean said. "Castiel's awesome."

"You've said that. I just didn't think you meant like, _awesome_ awesome."

"Hm." Dean pondered that for a moment. "I guess… I did?"

"This is going to be weird, Dean." Sam said, after a pause. "He's like, your brother kind of."

"He's so not, you're my stinking brother." Dean protested. "Castiel's something else, he's like… I don't know. He's different."

"Well he's your foster brother Dean, and he's a dude. What's dad going to think?"

"We're not telling dad until I know what's happening!" Dean growled.

Sam lay silently in his bed for a little while, thinking this through.

"You really like him?" Sam asked.

"I do." Dean said. "I really friggin' do."

"Then go for it." Sam said, decisively. "You two are really cute together."

"What? I'm not cute."

"Ok." Sam laughed. "You totally are though." He added in a teasing follow up whisperand got thunked by the pillow again.

Castiel stepped into his bedroom and immediately turned on his computer. He was still kind of shaky and wound up and part of him wanted Dean to knock on his door so he could rip his clothes off and part of him wanted to curl up in a ball and go back to his simple, unambiguously single existence.

He opened an incognito browser on his computer and signed in to an email account. It wasn't his school email, it wasn't his personal email, in fact, nobody knew about this email except one person.

"Anna?" Castiel typed into a chat box. "Please be online."

For a few minutes there was no response and Castiel sat, buzzing with nervous energy still. But before he got frustrated and turned his computer off there was a soft dinging noise and a text box appeared.

"What's wrong?"

"ANNA." Castiel typed. "I have news."

Without stopping Castiel typed away the life changing incidents of the last night, while his sister, wherever she was, gave him advice and encouragement.

The next day Castiel sat in the bed of one of Bobby's old junked cars, staring up at the cloudy sky. This was where he used to go right after Bobby had taken him in, when his dreams had been particularly bad and he didn't feel like speaking to anyone. It had been a while since he'd felt the need to go out here, probably the last time was after he'd found out Bobby's wife had cancer and he couldn't think of anything else to do. This time was different, he just needed a space to think.

"Castiel?" A voice called out, muffled from some distance. Castiel recognized it instantly.

"Dean?" He responded, nervously looking out over the edge of the truck bed. No one had ever found him here before.

His foster brother was a few rows away, kicking up dust next to a beat up old volkswagon. When his eyes met Castiel's he smiled, and he started to jog over. Castiel's breathing quickened and he could feel his heartbeat race.

"Dude, Cas, what are you doing out here?" Dean asked when he reached Castiel's retreat. He leaned against the edge, examining with a little distaste the rusted, dirty truckbed interior that was speckled with pebbles and dead bugs. Castiel sat crosslegged in the middle, like some kind of zen monk in a polo shirt and khaki shorts.

"hiding." Castiel said. His head tilted. "Not very well, apparently."

"From me?" Dean asked, and his smile disappeared. With a grunt he lifted himself smoothly into the back of the truck with Castiel, getting dust and dirt on his jeans as he did so.

"Yes, but also everybody else." Castiel admitted, scooting over to make room for the newcomer.

"You want me to go?" Dean asked.

"No."

"Cas." Dean shifted in his seated position, rubbing the back of his neck and looking around uncomfortably. Their legs were stretched out, next to one another's. He made eye contact. "I think I like you."

Castiel bit his lip.

"Sam thinks its weird because we're like brothers or whatever, but I think that's fine. I mean, we're not actually brothers."

Castiel didn't respond, or, for that matter, move, breathe, or make any other sign of cognizant life. Dean went on.

"And as far as the gay thing, I've never really felt like this about anybody before, so I think I'm just going to go for it." He stopped and looked at Castiel for a response. When there was none, he jostled Castiel's leg. "You in there?" He asked.

"I… I'm not sure." Castiel responded.

Dean gave Castiel a little half smile, eyes running him up and down.

"Want me to check for you?" He asked, cheesy as hell, and started to crawl on his hands over to Castiel's side. He stopped when their faces were very close, leaning over his friend. Castiel's head tilted up ever so slightly, breaths deep and shaky. Dean paused.

"Yes." Castiel whispered, swallowing nervously. He licked his lips. "Yes please."

Dean closed his eyes and kissed him tenderly. Castiel had now been kissed several times in his life and he saw why people seemed to think it was so nice. He began to kiss back.

"This is crazy. Is this crazy?" Dean asked, pulling back for a moment, breathless.

"This is perfect." Castiel said. "But yes, it is also crazy."

They kissed and touched and joked and, most humiliatingly, cuddled, for as long as either of them could handle the extremely uncomfortable truck bed. But finally sore backs and bruised elbows forced them to climb out of the vehicle and head home towards Bobby's. Castiel managed to hop down out of the truck bed without tripping, and saw that Dean was waiting for him, hand outstretched.

"Really?" Castiel asked, looking at Dean in surprise. Dean flushed, rolled his eyes, and grabbed Castiel's hand in exasperation. They held hands as they walked across the used car lot. Dean's palm was warm and rough, and Castiel couldn't help but imagine what it would feel like in other places, the thought of which made him blush and press himself into Dean like a 1950s girlfriend who had just been pinned.

"Do we tell Bobby?" Dean asked as they strolled towards home.

"Not… not quite yet." Castiel said, squeezing Dean's hand. "I don't know how to explain it."

"Ok." Dean agreed. When they got close to the house it was getting towards evening, the yellow lights from the house glowed welcomingly, but Dean paused for a moment before they got any closer. Letting go of Castiel's hand, he kissed him sweetly one last time before brushing himself off and putting a little distance between them. Castiel was still giddy and jittery from their contact, but he held himself together until they'd made it up to the backyard.

The light over the porch had lost its shade, and the brightness of the bulb hurt Castiel's eyes a little as they approached. The back door swung open with a shriek of unoiled hinges, and Bobby emerged on to the porch. He looked grim. Dean and Castiel both looked at one another worriedly for a second as they climbed up the back stairs.

"What's up Bobby?" Dean asked. "We out too late?"

"Castiel." Bobby said, looking very tired. "I have some news."

"Yes?" Castiel asked, letting Bobby hold the door for him as they stepped inside the house. Chili was boiling on the stove and Sam was on the couch, feet propped up on the coffee table scribbling in his chemistry homework. For a moment Dean smiled when he saw how domestic and pleasant everything seemed, but he shook his head clear when the door squeaked shut and they all stepped into the living room.

Castiel stood with his strange posture, staring at Bobby expectantly.

"Missouri called. She's got some bad news." Bobby said. He kept taking off his hat, running his hands through his hair, and then putting the hat back on. "It's about your brother."

Dean looked up nervously. Castiel swallowed.

"My… brother? Michael?" He asked.

"He's out." Bobby said. "Of prison. He managed to escape last night when they were moving him to a new facility. He's, they think he might be nearby."

Dean immediately looked at Castiel's reaction to the news. Cas looked about 8 years old, and all the blood had drained out of his face. This was bad.

"You're safe Cas." Dean said, immediately moving over to his friend and rubbing his back. "We got you."

"Missouri's on her way. She doesn't know how much information Michael has about you but she thinks it might be safer if we take you out of this house for a while. Also the police might want to talk to you about where he could possibly be headed."

"I… I don't know." Castiel said, breaths shaky. "I haven't spoken to him since… I don't know."

"Everything's going to be ok. I'm sure they'll pick him up soon, all sorts of cops and US marshalls are out looking for him." Bobby said soothingly.

"I'll kick his ass." Dean said.

"And Dean will kick his ass." Bobby agreed sarcastically. "If the whole might of U.S. law enforcement can't handle it I'm sure one sixteen year old will."

"Anna." Castiel said, looking up at Bobby worriedly. "We have to tell her."

"Anna?" Bobby asked.

"Your sister? Nobody's heard from her in years, right?" Dean asked.

"I have." Castiel said, gulping and looking from Dean to Bobby. "I've been writing her. She'll need to know, Michael probably thinks she betrayed him."

"You've been in contact with your sister?" Bobby asked, stunned. "Why didn't you tell me?"

"She's hiding." Castiel said. "She's started a new life and she doesn't want anybody to know. She emailed me a few years ago and we've been in contact since. I'm sorry I didn't tell you but I wanted to keep her safe." Castiel looked from Bobby to Dean. "H-how do you know about Anna?"

"Um…" Dean looked up at Bobby nervously.

"I told him about you Castiel." Bobby said. "I didn't think you'd mind."

Castiel looked hurt, glancing between Dean and Bobby and then finally crossing his arms and staring at the floor.

"I didn't know you were the kind of person who kept big secrets, Castiel." Bobby said, almost reproachfully.

"It wasn't your story to tell." Castiel said, softly. Dean wanted to pull him into his arms but he was also fairly positive this wasn't the right time. Fortunately, headlights turning into the driveway announced the arrival of Missouri, and everyone was able to exhale at the distraction.

Missouri walked in and right over to Castiel, clasping him in a big bear hug without any preamble.

"Castiel, I'm so sorry." She said soothingly, as Dean stuffed his hands in his pockets and wished he could hug Castiel like that. "We've gotta get you out of this house."

"I'm coming along." Dean said, looking up quickly.

"really?" Sam asked, he'd been listening quietly on the sofa the whole time, book abandoned.

"You're all going." Missouri said. "If Michael's looking for family he might be able to dig this place up, and it won't be safe here."

"Where should we go?" Bobby asked. "The boys got school."

"School's another place that Michael might be able to look up, if he's looking for Castiel. You'll have to take them out for a little while, at least until Michael's back in prison." Missouri looked at the boys looking tired and sad. "You all better pack some bags. You're going to be gone for a few days."

A few hours later Dean and Castiel were sitting next to one another in the back of Missouri's van. Bobby and Sam were in his truck, following behind. It was dark outside, and the only thing Dean could see out of the window was the miles and miles of streetlights illuminating the highway. He looked over at Castiel, whose pensive expression was intermittently lit up by passing traffic and yellow lights.

"You ok?" Dean asked, softly.

Castiel looked up at his friend and then back down at his hands again. Slowly shaking his head.

"I'm so sorry." Castiel said. "I'm sorry my family is putting us all in danger."

"Dude it's not your fault." Dean said. "Family's family." He said with a shrug.

Castiel almost smiled at that.

"Were you going to tell me you knew?" Castiel asked. "About… everything?"

"Sure dude." Dean said. "I guess, I didn't really know what the right time was to say."

Castiel didn't respond, he just looked out the window again. A semi-truck was right next to them, going a little faster than felt safe. Missouri's Honda only came up to the bed of the truck, and Castiel gave himself a little scare when he imagined the truck not seeing them, changing lanes and smashing right through their car. He gasped when he felt a touch on his arm but realized that it was just Dean, looking worried.

"You want to know stuff about me? So we're even?" Dean asked, nudging his friend's arm.

"What are you talking about?" Castiel asked.

"When I was 10 years old I used to pretend to be a boy scout selling popcorn to scam a bunch of old people." Dean said. "I never sent them anything, I just took their cash."

"Dean…" Castiel groaned.

"One time I hit a guy who was bullying Sammy so hard that I broke his eye socket, and he wasn't allowed to sneeze for a week because if he did his eye would've popped out."

"You sure you want to be saying all this in front of me? Your social worker?" Missouri asked.

"I'm really good at picking locks and stealing stuff while Sam distracts people with his puppy face." Dean admitted. "Although now puberty hit him he's not so profitable. Oh! And I'm banned from McDonalds."

"I think you've mentioned that." Castiel said with a smile.

"I learned how to drive so I could pick up dad from the bars because he couldn't afford a taxi, and one time he beat the living shit out of me because he caught me trying on strawberry lip gloss in our motel bathroom."

"Dean." Castiel grabbed Dean's arm and shook him. "You don't have to tell me all of this."

"I just want us to be even, you know? I don't want you to feel like you're the only one with a weird family."

"I…" Castiel rubbed his forehead but he couldn't help but smile weakly. "Thank you. Dean. You're very weird as well."

"Damn straight I am." Dean said with a nod.

"I'm not sure what just happened." Missouri said, "But I'm going to pretend I didn't hear any of it."

"Thanks Missouri." Castiel said. It was too dark for her to see, but he had kept his hand on Dean's arm, and Dean had put his hand in Castiel's. It was comforting.

Charlie stared sadly at what remained of her dodgeball team.

"We can't play with only three people right?" Chuck pointed out, and the fact that his voice sounded hopeful made Charlie seriously contemplate throwing the ball in her hand right into his face.

"You have no idea where Dean and Castiel are?" She asked.

"Castiel hasn't been in class all week." Chuck said.

"Don't _you_ have any idea where Meg is?" Becky asked. Rumors about girls who had been kicked out for dancing close on the dance floor had spiraled into rumors about girls being caught having sex with each other on the dance floor and just about everybody in school was side eyeing Charlie and Meg right then. Which Charlie might have been more capable of handling if Meg had said two words to her since Sadie's.

"I could give a flying fuck where Meg is." Charlie growled. Becky made a little gasping noise at the profanity and looked down at the ground.

"But… we can't play with only three people." Chuck repeated.

"No. Chuck. We can't." Charlie said. "Which means we'll have to forfeit this game."

"Sweet." Chuck said, smiling at Becky, who smiled back at him goofily.

"Nobody's even slightly concerned about half of our team not showing up?" Charlie asked in exasperation.

"Um," Chuck looked almost guilty at that, but Charlie just waved him away and he and Becky retreated.

"Excuse me." A man asked from the sidewalk next to the dodgeball courts. He was a tall, dark haired man, exceptionally muscular and good looking, as even Charlie had to notice. She imagined other girls might swoon for him.

"Unless you can play dodgeball and morph into five different people, I don't really care to speak with you." Charlie said with a sigh, gathering up her bag of dodgeball equipment and getting ready to go inside to change.

The man laughed, and his smile was very charming.

"Sadly, I can do neither of those things. I just heard you mention the name Castiel."

"Mm hm?" Charlie asked. "Weird name right? Sounds kind of girly. Not that I can talk of course, Charlie's not really a girl name, and I just told you my name didn't I? That probably wasn't all that smart."

"Don't worry, I'll forget it in a few minutes." The man laughed. "It's just, I was kind of hoping to speak with Castiel. You wouldn't happen to know where he is?"

Charlie looked at the man dubiously.

"Who's asking?" She asked.

"His brother." The man said. "His real brother."

"Oh." Charlie said, shifting on her feet and looking more closely at him. "Well. That's interesting."


	8. Sex and Violence

**Chapter 8: Sex and Violence**

Castiel remembered being frightened walking home from school on the last day he lived with his brother, but he wasn't sure if he really had been scared or if the terror of the rest of that day had just bled backward in his memory.

But it felt like he remembered that day really well. He remembered walking down the sidewalk in his little white Velcro shoes that Anna had bought him from goodwill because it took him too long to tie shoes with laces. If he spent too long getting ready in the mornings Michael used to get mad, and you didn't want to make Michael mad. He remembered walking up the four flights of grimy cement stairs of his apartment building that always smelled vaguely of urine to get home.

The door had been unlocked, it wouldn't latch unless you pulled hard until it clicked which was one of those things that was really hard for a nine year old to remember, so Castiel left the door unlocked accidentally from time to time. He cringed when he opened the door, knowing that it was his fault it was open and that he was going to be in trouble.

That day, when he opened the door, the first thing he saw was Lucifer. Lying on the floor. In his memory Lucifer was the only prominent thing in the room, all the furniture and things were dwarfed next to the huge, immobile, riveting corpse of hie elder brother, but that couldn't be completely accurate. Castiel had heard of a study that found that the more times you remember a particular event the less accurate that memory is. The sight of his brother lying pale and motionless on the floor had been the only thing he'd seen when he shut his eyes for a good three years.

Behind Lucifer sat Michael, casually seated on the couch as though nothing was wrong. His knife was balanced neatly on his leg, and the only thing about his appearance that suggested something was wrong was the fact that his arms were both bloody up to the elbow. He had turned slowly to his little brother, who hadn't even taken his backpack off yet.

"It had to be done Castiel." Michael had said. His voice had always been deep and intimidating, even conversationally. "I did it for you. For our family."

The first thought that had gone through Castiel's mind at that point was that Michael had gotten the couch all bloody and they wouldn't be able to afford a new one. He never told anyone that this was his first thought, and he was pretty sure he was profoundly fucked up for thinking something like that, but apparently that was the first thing his conscious was able to digest. His next thought was more reasonable.

"Anna?" He'd asked.

"Gone." Michael had said. The police later decided that meant she had come home and fled earlier, but Castiel had understood it at the time as "gone" in the same manner Lucifer was now gone. He'd started shaking, dropped his backpack, and ran out the door. Michael had chased him, shouting, as Castiel sprinted down the stairs. The next day he had bruises on his legs that he didn't remember getting he was running so wildly. Even then it took him two flights of stairs to realize that he could shout for help on his own. Their landlord's husband had come out then, and as a former pro wrestler he'd had no problem restraining Michael before he could get his hands on Castiel, and his brother had been taken away.

Castiel still had moments when he wasn't totally convinced that he'd done the right thing. Michael had always been the rock that held their family together, and until the moment he'd run out of that apartment Castiel had never disobeyed. That he hadn't put his backpack down slowly that day and done what his older brother had commanded seemed outrageous to Castiel even in hindsight. And sometimes he found himself thinking that Michael really had killed Lucifer for the good of the family. For him.

"Cas?" Dean asked, and Castiel shook his head and snapped out of it.

They were in a hotel. Missouri had booked one room for four grown or close to grown men so of course Castiel had ended up on the pull out couch. He was sitting on the uncomfortable metal bar that always cuts down the middle of a pull out bed when Dean had distracted him, standing there with a Styrofoam plate of greasy looking scrambled eggs and wilty bacon.

"this place's breakfast isn't half bad." Dean said with a smile, handing Castiel the plate and a plastic fork. "They got one of those make your own waffle things if you want me to go grab you one."

"No, this is more than acceptable." Castiel said, balancing the plate on the armrest of his couch bed.

"Ok, but let me know if you want something else." Dean asked, sitting down next to Castiel. "Trust me, I _know_ hotel/motel breakfasts. Like, backwards and forwards. I give this place an 8/10."

Castiel smiled and tried to eat a bit. He had no appetite to speak of, but he did have a Dean who he wanted to make happy.

"Where's Sam and Bobby?" Cas asked, accidentally jabbing a hole in the flimsy plate with his fork.

"Still down there talking about basketball. I came back up when I figured you weren't actually coming down after us." Dean said.

"Maybe I wanted to be alone?" Castiel asked raising an eyebrow.

"Fuck that." Dean scoffed. "Solitude blows. I'm way better than solitude."

Castiel smiled and tried another mouthful of egg. It wasn't so bad when you gave it a chance.

"Any word from Anna?" Dean asked, glancing over at Castiel's laptop that was set up on the desk in the corner.

Castiel just shook his head, but the corner of his mouth turned down worriedly.

"Shit, I wasn't supposed to ask that was I? I was supposed to be distracting."

"It's ok." Castiel sighed. He'd told Missouri everything he knew about Anna's whereabouts, which was that he guessed she was somewhere on the east coast because she'd lost power during Hurricane Sandy. It wasn't much to go on, and she hadn't written him in days. Everyone was worried, none more than Castiel.

Everyone but Dean had given him a stern talking to for keeping his conversations with his sister a secret for four years. Castiel couldn't totally explain why he'd felt the need to keep it a secret, other than that nobody really understood what life back home was like, except Anna. He didn't want to stop talking to her, and she'd asked him not to tell. She'd told him that she'd been miserable in Michael's house as well, and when she'd seen what Michael had done she'd just hopped on a bus and got the hell out of there. How she'd survived as a 14 year old runaway she'd never told him, but now she seemed happy and stable. He hoped she was ok. Michael had never liked Anna.

With a sigh He let himself rest his forehead on Dean's shoulder. He'd been so tightly wound for the past week he just felt tired. Dean leaned into him, kissing the top of his head.

"It's going to be ok." He whispered.

"You sound so confident." Castiel muttered.

"Because I frigging am." Dean said.

A clicking noise from the door made both of them reluctantly spring apart from one another, and Bobby and Sam walked in. Sam raised his eyebrow at Dean from behind Bobby's back, noting the two boys together on the bed, and Dean surreptitiously flipped his brother off.

"Missouri booked us one more night here, so settle in." Bobby said with a sigh.

"Is our homework getting sent to us?" Sam asked, attracting blank stares from everyone in the room. "I…" He stuttered, "I just don't want to fall behind."

"I am ashamed to be related to you sometimes." Dean said, and Sam scowled at him.

A dinging noise from the laptop made everyone jump.

"Is that…?" Bobby asked.

"Her." Castiel jumped up and scrambled over to the desk to see the email.

Dean was going to follow but Bobby made him stand back and stood directly behind Castiel himself. In the corner of the screen was a little chat box, which read

"Castiel?"

"Anna are you all right?" Castiel typed back. For a few moments everyone stared at the screen in tense silence. Finally another box appeared.

"Anna is fine," it read. "I however am disappointed that you did not show up for your dodgeball tournament. I had so hoped you would not grow up into the kind of person who does not live up to his obligations."

"Oh no." Castiel whispered, pulling his hands away from the keyboard slowly, betrayed.

"What?" Dean asked, trying to look around Bobby to see the screen. "What happened?"

"Castiel get away from that." Bobby growled and shut the laptop. Castiel had pushed himself away from the computer, still staring ahead though.

"Michael has Anna." Castiel whispered. "And he's at our school."

"It's ok." Dean said, immediately, hugging Castiel's neck from behind the chair. "Everything's going to be ok."

Bobby leaned against the wall rubbing his temples and staring thoughtfully at the bad watercolor of a ship that was hanging over his bed.

"We're going to have to call the police." He said. "He's at the school, they'll be able to pick him up there."

There was a sudden buzzing noise from over by the coffee table, and every head in the room turned to stare. Castiel's cell phone had just received a text message.

"Oh my God." Sam whispered. Castiel's eyes were wide and fearful.

"Don't pick that up." Bobby barked, but Dean already had the phone in his hands.

"It's from Charlie!" Dean said, stunned. Castiel ran over and snatched it, opening the message.

"Castiel. I figured I'd let you know your brother tried to talk to me yesterday. It seemed kind of sketch so I looked him up online and uh, I guess you know what I found out. You want me to bring the douchebag in?"

Castiel read the message three times before any of it sunk in.

"What is it?" Dean asked.

"Charlie…" Castiel looked up. "Charlie's in trouble."

Michael had ditched the last car he had stolen three days ago, and so he had to lurk in the shade, nonchalantly sipping an Icee he had purchased from a 7-11 while leaning against a suburban garden wall. He was watching a one story white paneled house with tiny yard of browning grass. He'd been standing there for a good two hours. Several pudgy white suburban moms with strollers had jogged past, but so far nobody seemed suspicious.

His icee had melted a while back, now he was just loudly sipping the watered down remains of his beverage, but he couldn't go get another. All he could do was think.

The mental image of Lucifer's body lying on their apartment floor had never really haunted Michael, certainly not in the way it haunted Castiel. Lucifer had been a little fuck who didn't know how to follow rules. Michael had never felt freer than the exact moment he'd plunged his knife into his brother's chest.

Anna was another story. He almost felt bad about leaving her locked in that tornado shelter. But she hadn't given him any other option; she had simply refused to be helpful. He rubbed under his eye absently, feeling the residual soreness from where she had hit him. Anyway, it wasn't like he'd killed her, there had been plenty of food in the shelter. She might have done better with the can opener that was sitting in the back of her car, but, she was a plucky and resilient girl, she'd figure something out. Her laptop had certainly proven useful.

Little Castiel. Michael still remembered him as 7 years old, awkward but cute, always strangely quiet and twitchy. The fact that Castiel had been responsible for getting him locked up with a sentence of 50 years always struck Michael as laughable. Or it would have if it didn't make him so soul level furious. Anna had deleted every conversation she'd had with the kid off her laptop but he'd seen his contact information.

He put the empty styrofoam cup down. The door hadn't opened since the red headed chick had gone inside. What was her name? Something "quirky." She was visiting the hotter brunette girl, and apparently Castiel was fond of one of them. That awkward little boy had grown up and won himself a girlfriend apparently; it hadn't taken very much digging to find out whom Castiel had taken to the Sadie Hawkins.

He'd been hoping that Castiel would have turned up easily, it wasn't as though he had very much time. There were police and several federal US Marshalls after him, if he was going to get his vengeance and some peace of mind he had to do it soon. But just like when Castiel had sprinted ahead of him on that fucking staircase the boy was proving more resilient than he had any right to be.

But if Castiel took after Anna, and Michael had an inkling that he might, he wouldn't be able to sit by silently while his girlfriend was in danger.

The door he'd been staring at for the past several hours finally creaked open. A redhead in a zombie t-shirt emerged. Michael smiled and repositioned himself out of sight behind some trees. She walked right past him on the sidewalk, fumbling in her purse to get her keys, which was when he stepped out.

"Charlie?" He asked gently.

"FUCK SHIT BALLS." Charlie exclaimed, jumping at his approach.

"I'm sorry!" Michael apologized, smiling and holding up his hands innocently. "I didn't mean to frighten you."

"Holy jesus…" Charlie was still breathing heavily. "What the fuck, man?"

"I didn't mean to frighten you, remember me? I'm Castiel's brother. I'm looking for him."

"Um, good luck with that." Charlie said, looking confused. "He's not here. Please leave."

"I thought you might be able to help me." Michael said reaching around to where he was hiding a knife in his belt but keeping his expression friendly, apologetic.

"I don't think so dude." Charlie said. "Like I told you, I haven't seen Castiel in like a week."

"That's not a problem." Michael said, he was standing close enough that he ought to be able to put the knife to her neck without being seen. Hopefully she'd get in the car without any struggle, but Castiel would come whether she was still breathing or not. It would be up to her. Before he could threaten her, a girl's voice growled behind him,

"Step the fuck away douchebag."

Michael snapped around to see the brunette chick standing behind him holding what appeared to be a tazer in a menacing way.

"Who are you?" He asked, trying to backtrack.

"Hands on your head." Charlie growled, and he turned to see the girl he'd been about to threaten standing behind him with a tazer of her own.

Michael's eyes narrowed as he tried to back away from both of them.

"You've got this wrong." He whispered, planting on his most charming fake smile.

"We fucking don't." Charlie shrugged. "And if you go for that knife again I'm gonna taze the shit out of you."

"You're making a mistake." Michael said. "I don't know who you think I am… but…"

"Are you fucking kidding?" Meg growled. "You're on the news."

Michael looked back and forth between the two girls who were currently threatening him. The brunette was smaller, but the redhead's arms were shaking. He took a deep breath, then pulled his knife out in a half a second and in an upper cut stab tried to take her down.

"CHARLIE!" The redhead shrieked and then there was pain and shock from his neck that made his muscles clench and his vision blur and the next few seconds were lost to pain and hysteria. The last thing he remembered was a grown man pulling him off of the redhead and hitting him in the face.

Charlie only had to be in the hospital for two days, the stab wound to her abdomen had blessedly missed any important internal organs and apart from some stitches she was going to be fine.

Bobby and the boys had shown up as soon as they could. Castiel had sat in silence, shaking the entire drive home. Dean had lasted about ten minutes keeping any distance between them, but he'd eventually given in and begun to stroke Castiel's arm.

"It's not your fault." He kept whispering, squeezing his friend's shoulder. "She's ok, Michael's back in prison, and none of this is your fault."

Bobby had looked in the rear view mirror questioningly a few times but after that he'd just shrugged and turned his attention back to the road.

When they showed up at the hospital John Winchester was sitting in the waiting room. He looked up in relief from a pile of women's magazines on the table in front of him.

"Boys!" He said, standing up with a look of relief.

"Dad?" Sam asked. "What are you doing here?"

"I figured you boys would come here first." John Winchester said, rubbing his hands on his jeans nervously. For a few seconds everyone stared at eachother in a bizarre, confused silence, until John whispered "Damn it" and took both of them into a quick, awkward hug. "I'm glad you're ok." He said, which was probably the most affectionate thing he'd said to either of them in years.

"Is Charlie?" Castiel ventured, from behind the cluster of Winchesters.

"She's fine." John said. "They had to staple her abdomen closed, but it could have been way worse."

"STAPLE!?" Castiel went pale.

"Don't worry!" Dean said, turning back to Castiel. "if they could use the staple thing that means the wound wasn't deep."

"Staple." Castiel repeated softly.

"Boys!?" Bobby called out from the front desk. "The nurse says we can go in."

"Don't all rush in at once." The nurse said, staring at the tall boys dubiously. "We don't want to scare her."

When they walked in, slowly and as nonthreateningly as possible, Meg was already sitting at Charlie's bedside. She dropped Charlie's hand as soon as she saw she wasn't alone, and tried really hard to look like she didn't give a fuck.

"Hey dude!" Charlie said, smiling cheerfully as they walked in. "Castiel, you owe me a coke or something."

"OH MY GOD." Castiel said, hurrying up to the seat by Charlie's bed. "I'm so sorry!"

"It's fine!" Charlie said. "We saved the day, right Meg?"

"You never told us your brother was a psycho Cas." Meg said, sighing. "Kind of important information."

"It's my fault she got hurt." John Winchester said, throwing himself under the bus in true Winchester fashion. "I didn't get there in time."

"What were you even doing there?" Sam asked from the back of the room, where he'd been awkwardly hanging out next to a pastel poster of an inner ear.

"Bobby called me." John said. "He thought the girls might need backup, so I was keeping an eye on them. Not that I did all that great a job."

"This is what happened." Charlie said with a sigh. "I had gone over to Meg's after school to hang out. When I walked over to my car Michael saw me and was going to threaten me like some Mary Jane spiderman bullshit because he thought I was your girlfriend."

"I saw some dude talking to Charlie from out my window, I figured out what was going on, so I ran out with my tazer to help her out." Meg said.

"Then we both had him cornered, which was terrifying." Charlie said.

"Your brother is very tall and muscular Castiel, I don't know how _you_ happened." Meg added as a side note.

"But he panicked and went to stab me and Meg tazed him in the neck." Charlie said, and then high fived Meg.

"I broke it up right at the end." John said, rubbing his forehead. "But I didn't do much. I'm so sorry Charlie."

"Look, it's nobody's fault." Charlie said with a sigh. "C'est La vie."

Castiel slowly sat down in the chair next to Charlie's bedside, staring at her sadly and looking like he hadn't slept in a thousand years.

"I'm so sorry." He said.

"Hey." Charlie said, taking Castiel's hand. "You grew up with that guy? I'M sorry."

That night John Winchester took Dean and Sam out to dinner, while Castiel stayed home and got some rest. Dean worried about Castiel, but there was something vaguely comforting about sitting in the car at a Rally's eating a burger and drinking a limeade like old times.

"That was pretty cool of you to look out for Charlie and Meg like that, dad." Sam said, from the backseat.

John looked up and into the rearview mirror with a kind of surprised expression. They made eye contact for a moment, father and son, and he shrugged in acceptance of the compliment before taking another bite of his hamburger.

"They always overcook these here." He grumbled, but it was a tired complaint, and one that John Winchester made at every single fast food restaurant in which they stopped.

Dean looked at his dad out of the corner of his eye and smiled contentedly.

"So, now that you're all heroic and stuff, do you think they're going to let you take us back?" Dean asked.

"You really want to come back to this?" John asked gesturing at the car and the scummy parking lot. "I still haven't got a place. Wouldn't you miss your school?"

"Screw school." Dean said, but he couldn't bring himself to mention the friends he'd be leaving. "What about family?"

John continued chewing his burger, not making eye contact with his son.

"You take care of your brother, all right?" John asked.

"Of course." Dean said. "But… dad…"

"Dean." John Winchester's voice reached its warning pitch and he glanced very seriously at his son. "End of discussion."

Dean's face fell and he tried to sit still, but he couldn't. For a few seconds he kept quiet, but finally he just blurted out,

"I'm in love with Castiel."

John started to cough on one of his fries, and from the backseat Dean could hear Sam cracking up.

"Excuse me!?" John managed to sputter.

"I just thought I'd tell you." Dean said. "Cause like, you're my dad or whatever."

"Dean, if you're fucking around with me, I swear to God…" John didn't finish his swear because with one look at his son's face he saw that this was real.

"Does… does he know?" John asked.

"Oh my God." Sam groaned from he backseat. "Do I have to be here for this?"

"Shut up Sam." Dean snapped. "Yeah, we're kind of a thing."

"Oh holy Christ." John said, rubbing his forehead. "Are you being safe?"

"KILL ME." Sam whined. "PLEASE."

"Oh my god dad we're not that much of a thing yet." Dean said, starting to regret this. "And what, is he going to get pregnant?"

"Don't be a smartass right now Dean." John Winchester shook his head. "This is bad."

Dean's jaw clenched. Any other time in his life he would have just shut up and stared straight ahead and waited for his father's good mood to come back. Sammy was the one that talked back.

"It's not bad." He whispered. "it's fine."

"What did you just say?" John asked.

"I said it's fine." Dean said, a little louder, "And I was only letting you know because I thought, you know, as my DAD, you might want to know." And then his courage ran out and he went back to staring at the dashboard of the car in silence.

"Dean." John Winchester said, and to Dean's shock his tone wasn't angry. "I only meant that there are rules against this kind of stuff. Fostering rules. They might make you leave Bobby's."

Dean looked up at his father worriedly.

"Why can't you just take us back?" Dean asked. "You could get a place around here, it would be fine…"

"Dean, I can't explain this any more clearly to you." John Winchester looked at his son. "_you are better off with Bobby._" He said. "You boys deserve to go to school, to date people, to have a normal life. And I can't give that to you." He took a deep breath and stared out of the windshield.

Dean felt his eyes well up and the fact that they were doing so was so embarrassing that he just crossed his arms and sat silently.

"Can… can we go home?" Sam asked from the back, sounding disconcertingly normal.

John didn't say anything and started the car's engine.

Castiel was lying his bed, unable to sleep but too tired to do anything else, trying not to think about everything that had happened in the past few days. A soft knock surprised him.

"Bobby?" He asked.

"No." Responded Dean.

Castiel rolled out of bed and made his way to the door, turning on his bedside light and blinking painfully at the sudden brightness. He opened the door to an absolutely miserable Dean Winchester.

"Can I come in?" Dean said, and the crack in his voice betrayed how close to tears he still was.

Castiel didn't even hesitate, he just pulled Dean into a hug, shutting the door behind him surreptitiously. Dean let himself be held, and when Castiel felt the dampness of some tears on his shirt he just hugged tighter.

"Everything's going to be ok." Castiel echoed Dean from earlier that day. "Everything's all right."

After about ten minutes of holding one another in silence, Dean pulled back. Wiping some tears away from his eyes in as manly a fashion as is possible, he tried to speak.

"I… I'm sorry." He said.

"It's all right." Castiel said.

Dean let out a shaky sigh and stared up at Castiel with inhumanly lovely eyes, shining even more than usual from their recent teariness.

"You're family. You know that, right?" Dean said.

Castiel blinked at that, corner's of his mouth turning down.

"I… I suppose…" He began.

"Oh God, wait…" Dean said, and then pulled Castiel in for a sudden kiss. He pulled back slowly, releasing Castiel's lower lip from between his teeth. "Like, the kind of family you can do that to." Dean said. "Is what I meant."

"Oh good." Castiel smiled with a relieved sigh. "Because, personally, my experiences with family have been mixed. At best."

Dean started to laugh and pulled Castiel in again.

"Don't I fucking know it." He said, and the two of them sank down onto Castiel's bed, kissing each other slowly at first, then with more desperation.

When Castiel's hands ran underneath Dean's t-shirt, starting to tentatively lift it up, Dean pulled back for a second.

"Sorry." Castiel said automatically, snatching his hands back to his sides.

"No…" Dean put his hand on the side of Castiel's face, rubbing along his jawline with his thumb. "Do you… want this?" He whispered, looking cautious. "Because, you've been through kind of a lot."

"For the love of God let me think about something else for a minute." Castiel said in a huff, leaning in and kissing Dean decisively. Dean grinned and pulled his shirt off, and Castiel made a little noise that could only be appreciation.

"I've got you." Dean said, pushing Castiel onto his back and kissing his neck slowly and tenderly. He reached down to Castiel's pants and felt the warm hardness forming there. Castiel gasped when Dean slipped his hand into Castiel's boxers.

Dean bit his lip with a little nervousness when he pulled Castiel's pants down. He'd received blow jobs before, but he hadn't given any, and the shift in perspective was jarring. But when he put his tongue on the tip of Castiel's penis and he felt Castiel's whole body shudder in response he could've laughed. He really did have this.

Castiel wasn't thinking about much of anything except that sometimes, dreams really DO come true. When Dean ran his tongue from the base of his penis all the way up to the tip he clenched his bedsheets and tried to think of something that would stop him coming in the next ten seconds. He made it to about a minute and half.

Dean pulled himself back up to Castiel's side and put his head down on Castiel's now sweaty shoulder.

"Are you ok?" He whispered.

"I… that's… why would I not be ok?" Castiel managed to respond, in between deep breaths. "That's an absurd question."

Dean laughed silently; Castiel could feel his whole body shaking from it.

"Do you want me to?" Castiel asked, once he was thinking clearly again.

"No." Dean whispered. "This is all I want right now." And for a little while the two of them just lay next to one another, running their hands along one another's bodies and looking into eachother's eyes every once in a while. The Dean who walked down the hallways at school wouldn't admit to such blatant cuddling if it was tortured out of him, but now Dean purred like a cat. "I needed this." He whispered, running his thumb in a little circle on Castiel's arm.

"I did too." Castiel said, eyelids feeling heavy for the first time in a week. "Dean." He said, softly, before drifting off to sleep.

Bobby wore the same suit to Sam's middle school "promotion" that he had to Castiel's. He only owned two suits, the nice one and the other one, and nothing about the middle school ceremony was worthy of the nice one.

"Why is it called a promotion and not graduation?" Dean asked, peering over the heads of the other proud parents around him, looking for Sam.

"Because the school board fears that some people might confuse the middle school graduation with high school graduation and not return for their diploma." Castiel said.

"It's enough to make you weep." Bobby sighed.

"And Jessica is giving the speech?" Dean said.

"Sam only said so 8 million times." Bobby grumbled. He was proud as punch of Sam of course, despite his grumpy demeanor, but there were only so many school ceremonies one could be expected to attend before the sugar cookies and lemonade began to cloy.

"THERE HE IS!" Dean shouted, hooting and cheering when he saw his little brother walk in his nice suit obediently in line across the gym floor to take his seat.

"He hasn't even graduated yet, cool off." Bobby sighed.

"Not graduated, promoted." Castiel gently reminded. Bobby sighed in exasperation but he saw Dean's smile over at Castiel. Castiel smiled back in one of those looks that had a thousand meanings. The boys were clearly in love with each other, the fact that they thought they were hiding it was just cute. Bobby was going to let them tell him in their own time. He only had about a year left as the legal guardian of either of them and he didn't see how much trouble they could possibly get into.

Jess's speech was clever, charming, and blessedly, short. The ceremony was tedious and stupid but Bobby couldn't help but mist up a little when Sam's name was called. For such an unsteady educational background the boy had been close to top of his class, and Bobby's glowing pride was only outmatched by Dean. He'd wolf whistled as Sammy walked across the stage and even from their distance all three of them could see him blush and groan in embarrassment.

"That's my baby brother!" Dean shouted.

"That's gonna be you pretty soon." Bobby said, leaning back.

"Valedictorian? Um, in the Twilight Zone maybe." Dean scoffed.

"No, but, you're gonna graduate at the end of next year. Got any plans for what comes next?"

Dean looked at Bobby, and then over at Castiel. Next had never really been an issue for him before. There had been getting through the next day and week and that was it. But now there was something like stability, and the future was looming.

"I'm making it up as I go." Dean said, swallowing.

"You're a smart kid." Bobby said with a decisive nod. "You'll figure something out."

"And you'll take care of me if I fuck up right?" Dean whispered into Castiel's ear.

"Only if you'll do the same for me." Castiel replied with a little smile.

"What's family for?" Dean said with a big dopey grin.


End file.
